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What the Grammys could learn from the Country Music Awards
Miranda Lambert performs onstage during the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards at T-Mobile Arena on April 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV.  Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017/Getty Images for ACM

What the Grammys could learn from the Country Music Awards

Almost two months after the 2018 awards ceremony, the Grammys are still making news – and almost all of it is bad. Mariah Carey says she doesn’t give a damn about the awards anymore; A Tribe Called Quest recently reiterated their gripe that the group’s final album, from 2016, wasn’t nominated; and this year’s CBS Grammys broadcast had the lowest ratings in almost a decade, a 24 percent drop from 2017.  

That’s on top of the issues that have made the Grammys a lightning rod for criticism in recent years: the #GrammysSoWhite controversy last year, continuing concerns about gender parity, and the increasing regularity of major stars speaking out or even boycotting the show. The Grammys, if you needed any further evidence, are teetering on the edge of irrelevance, and the organizers and voters don’t seem to know what to do about it.

Nashville may seem like the last place Grammy executives should look for guidance, but they really could learn something from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.

To be clear, the country-music industry isn’t a paragon of inclusiveness. In more than 50 years, only two black performers – Charley Pride (CMA Entertainer of the Year, 1971, and Male Vocalist of the Year, 1971 and 1972) and Darius Rucker (CMA New Artist of the Year, 2009) – have ever won a major industry award. And female performers have won just 18 Entertainer of the Year awards at either the ACM Awards or CMAs. That’s a pretty lousy record.

But there’s one way that country music’s awards shows get gender equity better than the Grammys.

In a 2012 restructuring, the Grammys eliminated separate male and female performance awards in the country, pop and R&B categories. The move was part of an overall streamlining that eliminated more than 30 award categories. (More than 20,000 artists signed a petition in protest of the decision.) The awards in those categories have been split relatively evenly since then, which seems like a small victory. But that also means about 50 percent fewer trophies for women performers since the consolidation – with separate categories, women would have won 21 awards since 2012, instead of 11.

The ACM and CMAs, on the other hand, present Male and Female Vocalist of the Year awards in addition to Entertainer of the Year. Even in years when Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, and Jason Aldean get the top award, there’s still major recognition for Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and other female singers.

(In fact, there’s an argument that the country awards could go even further and offer separate Entertainer of the Year prizes. If voters traditionally defer to men in that category, organizers could disrupt that discrimination in advance by guaranteeing one of the two top trophies is awarded to a woman.)

This isn’t the answer to #GrammysSoWhite, or the marginalization of genres besides Top 40 at the Grammys. But it’s a reminder that change doesn’t just happen. We’ll know that inclusion and equality are a priority when these awards shows start looking more like their audiences.  

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