What the Grammys Lack

Last Saturday, Whitney Houston died. The next day, singer-actress Jennifer Hudson preformed a tribute at the 54th Grammy Awards Ceremony. Rapper LL Cool J, host of the evening, opened and said, "We've had a death in the family." He offered a prayer. The show went on. Adele won six Grammys. The Foo Fighters took five.

The night has been described as both somber and victorious, which is not unimaginable if the community of musical artists is indeed a family. Every year there are deaths, new additions, successes, and dramas to account for -- all competing on stage. The Beach Boys performed, to mixed reception. Chris Brown made a comeback following his assault on Rihanna in 2009. Adele performed for the first time since microsurgery on her throat. She took six Grammys, including three of the big ones. It is involving.

And if it feels highly-produced, it should.

But is it all orchestrated? The nomination and voting process for the Grammys is often poorly understood. Voting is done by members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which functions primarily to sponsor the Grammys. Voting membership is not difficult to attain; an applicant must be credited on six commercially-released recordings (12, if they were released digitally). If you helped make six songs for sale on Amazon (12 on iTunes), you can vote on the Grammys.

This differs from the Emmys academy, which requires several years of specialized experience for voting membership. For the Academy Awards, voting membership works by invitation only.

The result for the Grammys is a relative democratization of the vote. At present, there are over 1200 registered voting members. All voting in the Grammys is done by these members, and the initial round of voting is often quite laborious. This year, there were over 17,500 entries for consideration to be nominated. Voting members are sent a list of such initial entries and may then vote as they like.

Again, this differs greatly from other awards. Voters for the Academy Awards are invited to screenings of the films under consideration. For the Pulitzer Prize, distinguished jurors in specific fields are employed to comb through initial entries. The Grammys provide no categorization or access to listed entries. A bassist working at Starbucks has to locate and listen to the thousands of hours of entries himself.

The process becomes a game of picking out recognizable names. The 17,500 list is narrowed down to less than a tenth of that; from a glut of entries to what is more or less the Billboard 200. Only entries which are already nationally famous and commercially successful become nominations.

Within this, the 1200 voting membership is small enough to allow for minor upsets. This year, Bon Iver won the Grammy for Best New Artist over more widely-known artists Nicki Minaj and Skrillex. In 2011, the lesser-known Arcade Fire won Album of the Year over Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry.

Still, the pre-nomination list is disproportionate to the size of the voting class. The voting population's lack of expertise is another factor. The Pulitzer is ultimately judged by 19 experts and academics whose identities and affiliations are public. Subsequently, Pulitzer-winning books are seldom chart-topping in national popularity, whereas it is rare for a Grammy entry to even receive a nomination if it has not reached #1 on national sales charts.

The Grammys' deciding factor is fame. Blake Shelton has been recording and performing in the country music industry for over 10 years, but this was the first year he was nominated for a Grammy. In fact, he was nominated for three, hot on the heels of his debut television role in the popular series, "The Voice." Still, Shelton lost two Grammys to the better-known Taylor Swift and the other to Lady Antebellum.

Shelton and Adele, as well as Whitney Houston, are not the honorees of the Grammys but the products. Digital sales of their music experienced the "Grammy bump," a significant increase in sales following their presence in the Grammys. The business principle is keen: it is easier to brand and market a few artists of wide, certain appeal than a multiplicity of more creative artists.

In this sense, the Grammys have more in common with the Superbowl than an awards show: it becomes a high-level competition. The award does not exist for the competitors but to involve the viewers. Although both Bruno Mars and Katy Perry lost to Adele for Best Album, all three will benefit. The show is subtly polarizing, increasing traffic to winners and losers alike to the neglect of new and substantial art.