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Music

Artists Can Now Win A Grammy Without Selling A Single Physical Album

A new rule implemented by the Recording Academy makes records on streaming-only services eligible for awards.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons user Dmileson

Back in February, Diplo's mainstream award aspirations prevailed when he finally scooped up a pair of Grammys as half of Jack Ü before performing live on national television. Now, ahead of the 59th annual awards ceremony in 2017, the Recording Academy has busted the playing field wide open by changing its eligibility requirements to include streaming-only releases, effective immediately.

As a press release explains, previous eligible works were required to be "commercially available via general distribution or digital recordings/downloads." Under the new rule, streaming services are defined by the Academy as "paid subscription, full catalogue, on-demand streaming/limited download platforms that have existed as such within the United States for at least one full year as of the submission deadline." That means major platforms such as Spotify, Tidal, Google Play, and Apple Music qualify, while newly established, non-exclusive, and non-on-demand services like Soundcloud Go, YouTube, and Pandora, respectively, do not.

"Our trustees felt like the time had come; it's been on our radar for a couple of years now," Recording Academy SVP of Awards Bill Freimuth told Billboard. "The goal was to include recordings that were worthy of Grammy consideration that were streaming-only—which it turns out were a pretty small number—and exclude the 12-year-old singing a Beyoncé cover into her comb that's easy to put up online also these days for streaming."

One of those Grammy-worthy recordings Freimuth refers to is Chance The Rapper's new mixtape Coloring Book, which was initially released in May as an Apple Music exclusive before hitting the other major streaming services. Garnering over 57.3 million streams—the equivalent of 38,000 units, according to a 2014 move by the publication that made 1,500 streams equal to one album unit—the record became the first Billboard 200 charter to have its total count come entirely from streaming.