2023 Grammy Awards: Submission Rule Changes & Newly Added Categories

The Recording Academy is switching things up ahead of the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Some major changes were made to the prestigious music awards ahead of the award season next year and it will be interesting to see how they will play out.

According to Billboard, the Recording Academy introduced five new categories for the 2023 Academy Awards.

The new categories include the Songwriter of the Year (non-classical), which is similar to the Producer of the Year (non-classical) category.

Per sources, the new songwriter category only applies to non-performing and non-producing songwriters who are strictly credited as writers or co-writers.

According to the Academy, "This category recognizes the written excellence, profession and art of songwriting for non-performing and non-producing songwriters. This category is for songwriters whose body of work released for the first time during the current eligibility year represents artistic excellence in the area of songwriting.”

Susan Stewart, the Songwriters & Composers Wing Managing Director, alongside the Chair, Evan Bogart, explained that this year was the perfect time to introduce the songwriter award category as there has been a lack of representation for writers.

Other new categories include Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, Best Alternative Music Performance, Best American Music Performance, and Best Spoken Word Poetry.

There's also an additional non-competitive category — a Special Merit Award for Best Song for Social Change. The Special Merit Award for Best Song for Social Change wouldn't be part of the regular Grammy structure.

Instead, it is similar to other honorary awards like Lifetime Achievement Award and Musical Educator Award. Explaining the initiative of this new category, the Academy said:

"[This category] will recognize creators of message-driven music that responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact."

For a song to be eligible for the Best Song for Social Change category, its lyrical content must address "a timely social issue and promotes understanding, peacebuilding, and empathy."

Unlike other categories where the voters choose who wins, the winner of the Best Song for Social Change category will be decided by a blue-ribbon committee certified by the Recording Academy board of trustees.

The five newly added categories make history for the Grammys as it is the largest one-year increase in 28 years. They will bump the Grammy to 91 categories from the low 78 categories that were in 2021.

Another important change made for the 2023 Grammy Awards is the number of submissions by members of the Recording Academy. Initially, members had no limit to the number of albums they could submit, but that was significantly reduced to only five.

After the five submissions, extra submissions would cost between $40-$125 per entry, depending on whether it is an early bird, standard or final deadline fee.

On the other hand, registered media companies would have to pay between $65-$125 based on the same terms.

However, the Academy promises that the fees can be waived for members who are struggling financially. Alongside the submission restriction, artists seemingly have to work harder in creating their albums because of an adjusted voting process.

Now, for an album to be considered for a Grammy, it must consist of 75% new content as opposed to the previous standard of only 50% new content.

Apparently, this new rule was approved in 2021 but the Academy gave its members a whole year to adapt to it, so it would be fully implemented from next year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

There are other minor additional changes, such as the renaming of the Best New Age Album category to Best New Age, Ambient, Or Chant Album.

Also, three categories within the classical field — Producer of the Year, Best Engineered Album, and Best Contemporary Classical Composition — will now be determined by highly specialized craft committees instead of rank-and-file voting members.