Grammys reduce nominees from 10 to 8 in 4 top categories, add AI rules

The Grammys have reduced the number of nominees in four top categories – Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist – from 10 to 8.

These categories had only expanded from 8 to 10 ahead of the 2022 nominations and were thought by many to make the categories and their inclusion on the television broadcast unwieldy.

Along with this announcement also came new rules for AI and The Grammys:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protocols

The GRAMMY Award recognizes creative excellence.

Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award.

A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Categories.

A work that features elements of A.I. material (i.e., material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology) is eligible in applicable Categories; however: (1) the human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful and more than de minimis; (2) such human authorship component must be relevant to the Category in which such work is entered (e.g., if the work is submitted in a songwriting Category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the music and/or lyrics; if the work is submitted in a performance Category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the performance); and (3) the author(s) of any A.I. material incorporated into the work are not eligible to be nominees or

GRAMMY recipients insofar as their contribution to the portion of the work that consists of such A.I material is concerned. De minimis is defined as lacking significance or importance; so minor as to merit disregard.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.