When the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony takes place in February 2012, the categories look a lot different than the previous year's ceremony. That's because it was announced today that a whopping 31 award categories are being eliminated from the show or consolidated with other categories, including half of the eight R&B awards.
The four R&B awards being given out in 2012 are:
- Best R&B Performance
- Best Traditional R&B Performance
- Best R&B Song; and
- Best R&B Album.
Getting kicked to the curb or consolidated with other categories are the awards for:
- Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
- Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
- Best Urban/Alternative Performance and
- Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group
- Best Contemporary R&B Album category.
Some of the changes make sense, but it's unfortunate that R&B took the biggest hit percentage-wise out of any individual category. For the full look at all 2012 music categories and how they'll differ from 2011's, have a look at the official Grammy website.
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Image © the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
Comments
This is really unfortunate. It seems like the committee’s thumbing its nose at independent artists. I’m glad acts like The Foreign Exchange got recognized while these awards were still given. It just makes it that much harder for us independent artists to get the word on the streets about our music.
I agree, Philip. Out of all the eliminations, I think taking away the urban/alternative awards hurts R&B the most, because now, non-mainstream and under-the-radar artists will have one fewer outlet that they can use to expose the world to their music.