Recording Academy® CEO Harvey Mason jr. (pictured) delivered an annual address to the organization's membership body underscoring the significance of Academy membership and each constituent's unique opportunity to create a lasting impact on the music community. In the address, Mason also highlighted key initiatives and milestones for the Academy and welcomed the organization's 2022 New Member Class.
Comprised of nearly 2,000 diverse music creators and professionals, the Academy's 2022 New Member Class signals the organization's continued progress toward cultivating a community that embodies the ethnicities, genres and crafts that power the music industry. Of the invitees that accepted their membership invite, 44 percent are from traditionally underrepresented communities, 47 percent are under the age of 40, 32 percent are women, and 52 percent are male (the remaining 16 percent are comprised of individuals who identify as non-binary and those who opted not to disclose). Full statistics surrounding the demographics of the new class can be found here.
The 2022 class marks four years since the Academy transitioned to a community-driven and peer-reviewed annual cycle to create a more diverse and engaged membership base representative of the evolving musical landscape. Since implementing the new model in 2019, the number of women members has increased by 19 percent, and membership among traditionally underrepresented communities has increased by 38 percent, now accounting for 31 percent and 33 percent of the Academy's current membership, respectively. The Recording Academy has added 1,913 women to its Voting Membership since 2019 and is now 77 percent of the way to reaching its goal of adding 2,500 women Voting Members by 2025.
