The 55th GRAMMY Awards are slated for February 10th 2013, airing from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The eligibility year for “Music’s Biggest Night” is Oct. 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012. The window to submit music for GRAMMY consideration opens up on July 2, 2012, but in order to submit your music for consideration, you need to keep in mind a few rules, guidelines, and deadlines.
First, you must be a voting member of The Recording Academy and in good standing (meaning that
your dues are paid in full by June 30, 2012), or you must be registered as a “Media Company” (usually a music label). It is generally recommended to register as a "Media Company" (instructions
here via A2IM), and it is also free to do so. Independents are definitely encouraged to participate, as it’s not just majors artists that dominate the GRAMMY Awards. In fact over the last few years, independents have seen growing numbers of GRAMMY nominations and awards (over 50% in some cases) including reggae artist Burning Spear, hip-hop / R&B group The Foreign Exchange, and jazz instrumentalists Chick Corea & Gary Burton.
The GRAMMY Awards telecast is one of the highest-rated and most-watched specials on television, with last year’s 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards attracting 39.9 million viewers – the largest GRAMMY audience since 1984 (also the second largest in history). Last year’s telecast was also the biggest social event in the history of television, drawing 13 million social media comments. The conversation on Twitter even reached a record high at 160,341 tweets per minute during the live telecast.
Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud
