When Grammy voters open their digital ballots beginning on Friday Oct. 3, they’ll notice a big difference from years past – all entries will be listed in randomized, rather than alphabetical, order for the first time. That won’t make all that much difference in categories with modest numbers of entries, but it will make it significantly harder to find what you’re looking for in categories with large number of entries.
And, while the academy doesn’t come right out and say it, that’s the point. The academy is trying to force (or at least strongly encourage) voters to read through the entire list of entries, so they’re reminded of entries that they may have forgotten about, rather than just revert to a handful of favorite artists every year.
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“This ballot update brings our process in line with standard voting best practices … and further ensures the process is fair and equitable for all entries,” Ruby Marchand, chief awards and global industry officer for the Recording Academy, said in an exclusive statement to Billboard. “As with any change, there will be an adjustment period in the first year but, our staff will be on hand to assist voters with any questions.”
All categories that appear on the first-round ballot will be listed in a randomized order. However, voters will be able to download a PDF of all entries listed in alphabetical order. And voters will still have access to locate their selections via a search tool within the voting platform.
The academy’s awards team has worked with their technical partners to craft uniquely personalized, randomized ballots. No two voter ballots will be identical (in terms of the order that entries are listed in).
This change was brought forward and supported by academy trustees, all of whom are members of the Recording Academy.
The change will make it harder to find entries in categories with large numbers of entries. Last year, 14 categories had 300 or more entries, topped by three of the highest-profile categories — song of the year (978 entries), record of the year (780) and album of the year (707). In the past, albums and songs were listed alphabetically by artist’s last names, so if you were looking for something from, say, Sabrina Carpenter or Kendrick Lamar, you could go right to it. Songs were listed alphabetically by song title, so again you could go right to, say “Espresso” or “Not Like Us.” Now, they’re in jumbled order. Voters will have to hunt through hundreds of entries to find what they want.
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The Recording Academy has begun to put the word out so that voting members won’t be shocked when they go to vote – first-round voting runs from Oct. 3 through Oct. 15. The academy notes that members can return to their ballot multiple times, if need be, before they finally submit, at which no further changes can be made. Each voter’s ballot will remain the same, no matter how many times that voter revisits their ballot as they listen, assess, and make their final vote selections.
“The key is to approach the process with preparation and patience,” Marchand said in a Q&A posted on Grammy.com. “Start early, set a reasonable pace, and plan for multiple visits to the ballot. This year, the ballot will appear in randomized order (not alphabetical), so giving yourself time to navigate and review thoroughly is especially important. Don’t wait until the last day – or worse, the last hour – to submit, as technical issues can derail your vote. Use Academy resources ahead of time, and once the ballot opens, take time to explore the diversity of entries along with tools within the ballot to assist in your voting.”
All voting members may join a half-hour ballot overview webinar on Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. ET for guidance and tips. Marchand will be joined by Harvey Mason jr., Recording Academy CEO; Michael Almanza, senior director, awards; and Nick DiFruscia, senior director, awards
The webinar, dubbed “Your Ballot at a Glance,” promises to shed light on these topics: “how to navigate your voter portal, changes to the ballot, including the new randomized ballot order, the importance of having a voting strategy, features/tools within the ballot to assist with your voting and critical resources to help you during 68th Grammy voting.”
The number of categories in which voters can vote remains unchanged. Voters can vote in up to 10 categories across no more than three different genre fields plus all categories in the “general field” (which consists of album, record and song of the year, best new artist, and producer and songwriter of the year, non-classical).