Procrastinators (and you know who you are): The deadline to enter recordings for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards is fast approaching. Voting members must make their entries by Thursday (Aug. 31 )at 6 p.m. PT — including for recordings that are scheduled for release in the first 15 days of September.
The Grammy eligibility year closes on Sept. 15, two weeks earlier than usual. (The deadline to enter recordings in the Grammy process has always preceded the close of the eligibility year; this year’s earlier-than-normal close of the eligibility year didn’t affect that.)
As previously announced, there are three new categories this year: best African music performance, best pop dance recording and best alternative jazz album.
This brings the total of Grammy categories to 94, the highest tally since 2010 when there were 109. The following year, the Academy underwent a major streamlining that took the number of categories down to 78.
The Academy is moving two important categories — producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical — to the “general field,” which used to be called the Big Four, so-named because it contained album, record and song of the year plus best new artist. The move is expected to greatly increase the number of people voting for those two awards. (All voters may vote in the general field, and then in no more than 10 other categories spread across no more than three fields.)
While the number of categories keeps creeping back up, the number of fields took a big reduction this year. In addition to the “general field,” there are just 11 fields on this year’s ballot, down from 26 last year. There are between four and 13 categories in each field.
The 2024 Grammy Awards are set for Feb. 4, 2024, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The host has not yet been announced. Trevor Noah hosted the last three years.
