• Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023
Matthew Compton promoted to West Coast creative director at Squeak E. Clean Studios
Matthew "Cornbread" Compton
LOS ANGELES -- 

International creative audio network Squeak E. Clean Studios has promoted Matthew “Cornbread” Compton from senior composer to West Coast creative director. Compton joined Squeak E. Clean Studios in 2021 after spending several years on the touring scene performing with various punk bands. Since joining the team Compton has created original compositions for brands including Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, Califia Farms, Little Caesars, Starry by PepsiCo’s inaugural campaign, and “Compton Cowboys” for the Andis Creator Series, as well as agencies including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, McKinney, 72andsunny and VaynerMedia. Along with his branded work, Compton lends the same expertise and well-trained ear to soundtracks he composed for various feature films and television series including Palm Springs (2020), the MacGruber TV series (2010) as well as the feature films MacGruber (2021), Snatched (2017), and Love, Rosie (2017). 

Compton said of Squeak E. Clean Studios, “As a long-standing member of this family, as a composer, I can’t wait to continue creating alongside my exceptionally talented colleagues and forging new relationships while strengthening our bonds with our esteemed partners. I look forward to fostering a collaborative and innovative approach while offering exciting ideas to further enhance the creative endeavors and goals of our esteemed clientele.”

Squeak E. Clean Studios’ executive creative producer MG said of Compton, “His work in film and TV inspires awe. Matthew has all the intangibles: a passion for hard work combined with taking the initiative at each turn, as well as massive chops across so many genres of music. Add in the utmost professionalism and you’ve got Cornbread. It’s no wonder he is stepping into a leadership role with our L.A. crew.”

Prior to his work at Squeak E, Clean Studios, Compton found himself composing soundtracks to films and media. He started to collaborate with the musical comedy trio The Lonely Island on tracks for multiple projects including the feature Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, produced by Judd Apatow. Following his excitement for the exploration at the intersection of comedy and pop music, Compton has continued to expand his artistic horizons across a wide range of commercial and entertainment work. Additionally, Compton worked as a writer and performer for the critically acclaimed L.A.-based indie rock band Electric Guest where he wrote and performed with chart-topping bands and artists including Carly Rae Jepsen, Cold War Kids, Portugal The Man, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cursive, The Pierces, and Joyo Velarde.

  • Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2023
Sinéad O'Connor, gifted and provocative Irish singer-songwriter, dies at 56
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor performs on the Stravinski Hall stage at the 49th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland on July 4, 2015. O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56. The singer's family issued a statement reported Wednesday by the BBC and RTE. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP, File)
LONDON (AP) -- 

Sinéad O'Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s and was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, has died at 56.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," the singer's family said in a statement reported Wednesday by the BBC and RTE. No cause was disclosed.

She was public about her mental illness, saying that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. O'Connor posted a Facebook video in 2017 from a New Jersey motel where she had been living, saying that she was staying alive for the sake of others and that if it were up to her, she'd be "gone."

When her teenage son Shane died by suicide last year, O'Connor tweeted there was "no point living without him" and she was soon hospitalized. Her final tweet, sent July 17, read: "For all mothers of Suicided children," and linked to a Tibetan compassion mantra.

Recognizable by her shaved head and with a multi-octave mezzo soprano of extraordinary emotional range, O'Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame.

She was a star from her 1987 debut album, "The Lion and the Cobra," and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince's ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U," a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the gray-eyed O'Connor in intense close-up.

She was a lifelong non-conformist — she said she shaved her head in response to record executives pressuring her to be conventionally glamorous — but her political and cultural stances and troubled private life often overshadowed her music.

A critic of the Roman Catholic Church well before allegations of sexual abuse were widely reported, O'Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and denounced the church as the enemy.

The next week, Joe Pesci hosted "Saturday Night Live," held up a repaired photo of the Pope and said if he had been on the show with O'Connor he "would have gave her such a smack." Days later, she appeared at an all-star tribute for Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden and was immediately booed. She was supposed to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You," but switched to an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War," which she had sung on "Saturday Night Live."

Although consoled and encouraged on stage by her friend Kris Kristofferson, she left and broke down, and her performance was kept off the concert CD. (Years later, Kristofferson recorded "Sister Sinead," for which he wrote, "And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't/But so was Picasso and so were the saints.")

She also feuded with Frank Sinatra over her refusal to allow the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at one of her shows and accused Prince of physically threatening her. In 1989 she declared her support for the Irish Republican Army, a statement she retracted a year later. Around the same time, she skipped the Grammy ceremony, saying it was too commercialized.

In 1999, O'Connor caused uproar in Ireland when she became a priestess of the breakaway Latin Tridentine Church — a position that was not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church. For many years, she called for a full investigation into the extent of the church's role in concealing child abuse by clergy. In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland to atone for decades of abuse, O'Connor condemned the apology for not going far enough and called for Catholics to boycott Mass until there was a full investigation into the Vatican's role.

"People assumed I didn't believe in God. That's not the case at all. I'm Catholic by birth and culture and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation," she wrote in the Washington Post in 2010.

O'Connor announced in 2018 that she had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name Shuhada' Davitt, later Shuhada Sadaqat — although she continued to use Sinéad O'Connor professionally.

"Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said in a statement on social media.

O'Connor was born on Dec. 8, 1966. She had a difficult childhood, with a mother she alleged was abusive and encouraged her to shoplift. As a teenager she spent time in a church-sponsored institution for girls, where she said she washed priests' clothes for no wages. But a nun gave O'Connor her first guitar, and soon she sang and performed on the streets of Dublin, her influences ranging from Dylan to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Her performance with a local band caught the eye of a small record label, and, in 1987, O'Connor released, "The Lion and the Cobra," which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and featured the hit "Mandinka," driven by a hard-rock guitar riff and O'Connor's piercing vocals. O'Connor, then 20 and pregnant, co-produced the album.

"I suppose I've got to say that music saved me," she said in an interview with the Independent newspaper in 2013. "I didn't have any other abilities, and there was no learning support for girls like me, not in Ireland at that time. It was either jail or music. I got lucky."

"Nothing Compares 2 U" received three Grammy nominations and was the featured track on her acclaimed album, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got," which helped lead Rolling Stone to name her Artist of the Year in 1991.

"She proved that a recording artist could refuse to compromise and still connect with millions of listeners hungry for music of substance," the magazine declared.

O'Connor's other musical credits included the albums, "Universal Mother" and "Faith and Courage," a cover of Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me," from the AIDS fundraising album "Red Hot + Blue," and backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's "Blood of Eden." She received eight Grammy nominations and in 1991 won for best alternative musical performance.

O'Connor announced she was retiring from music in 2003, but continued to record new material. Her most recent album was " I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss," released in 2014 and she sang the theme song for Season 7 of "Outlander."

The singer married four times; her union to drug counsellor Barry Herridge, in 2011, lasted just 16 days. O'Connor had four children: Jake, with her husband John Reynolds; Roisin, with John Waters; Shane, with Donal Lunny; and Yeshua Bonadio, with Frank Bonadio.

In 2014, she said she was joining the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party and called for its leaders to step aside so that a younger generation of activists could take over. She later withdrew her application.

"Ireland has lost one of our most powerful and successful singer-songwriter and female artists," Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill said.

  • Sunday, Jul. 16, 2023
Actor, singer and style icon Jane Birkin dies at age 76
Jane Birkin poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Jane By Charlotte' at the 74th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, July 8, 2021. France's Culture Ministry and French media say singer and actress Jane Birkin has died at age 76. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
PARIS (AP) -- 

Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, has died at age 76.

The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy “Je t’aime moi non plus" ("I Love You, Me Neither"). Birkin's ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969 duet that helped make her famous and was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.

The style Birkin displayed in the 1960s and early 1970s — long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit mini dresses and basket bags — still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.

Birkin was also synonymous with a Hermes bag that bore her name. Created by the Paris fashion house in 1984 in her honor, the Birkin bag became one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items, with a stratospheric price tag and years-long waiting list to buy it.

In her adopted France, Birkin was also celebrated for her political activism and campaigning for Amnesty International, Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and other causes.

“You can always do something,” Birkin said in 2001, drumming up support for an Amnesty campaign against torture. “You can say, ‘I am not OK with that.’”

She joined five monks on a march through the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 to demand that Myanmar let foreign aid workers into the country to help cyclone victims.

In 2022, she joined other screen and music stars in France in chopping off locks of their hair in support of protesters in Iran. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Birkin's daughter with Gainsbourg and also an actor in her own right, cut off a snippet of her mother's hair for the “HairForFreedom” campaign as Iran was engulfed by anti-government protests.

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Birkin as a “complete artist,” noting that her soft voice went hand-in-hand with her “ardent” activism.

“Jane Birkin was a French icon because she was the incarnation of freedom, sang the most beautiful words of our language," he tweeted.

French media reported that Birkin was found dead at her Paris home. The French Culture Ministry tweeted that Birkin died Sunday. It hailed her as a “timeless Francophone icon.”

Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak called Birkin “the most French British person" and “the emblem for a whole epoch who never went out of fashion."

Outside Birkin’s home on Paris’ Left Bank, fans mourned her death.

“She was a poet, a singer, an artist,” said Marie-Jo Bonnet. “She gave the best of herself and that’s marvelous.”

Birkin's early movie credits included “Blow-Up” in 1966, credited with helping introduce French audiences to her "Swinging Sixties" style and beauty.

Birkin and Gainsbourg met two years later. She remained his muse even after the couple separated in 1980.

She also had a daughter, Kate, with James Bond composer John Barry. Kate Barry died in 2013 at age 46. Birkin had her third daughter, singer and model Lou Doillon, with French director Jacques Doillon.

Birkin suffered from health issues in recent years that kept her from performing and her public appearances became sparse.

French broadcaster BFMTV said Birkin suffered a mild stroke in 2021, forcing her to cancel shows that year. She canceled her shows again in March due to a broken shoulder blade.

A return to performing was put off in May, with the singer saying she needed a bit more time and promising her fans she would see them again come the fall.

Despite her decades-long screen and music career, Birkin suspected that, for some people, the bag named after her might be her most famous legacy.

The fashion accessory was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that they got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor. She asked Dumas why Hermes didn't make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit sack the sort of bag that she'd like.

Dumas then had an example made for her and, flattered, she said yes when Hermes asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.

In a CBS Sunday Morning interview in 2018, Birkin joked that it might be what she's best known for.

“I thought, ‘Oh gosh, on my obituary, it will say, ‘Like the bag’ or something,’" she said. “Well, it could be worse.”

AP journalists Mallika Sen in New York and Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed.

  • Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2023
Jury decides 2014 document found in Aretha Franklin's couch is a valid will
Kecalf Franklin, a son of music superstar Aretha Franklin is interviewed after a court hearing, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. A document handwritten by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her couch after her 2018 death is a valid Michigan will, a jury said Tuesday, a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- 

A document handwritten by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her couch after her 2018 death is a valid Michigan will, a jury said Tuesday, a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other.

It's a victory for Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin whose lawyers had argued that papers dated 2014 should override a 2010 will that was discovered around the same time in a locked cabinet at the Queen of Soul's home in suburban Detroit.

The jury deliberated less than an hour after a brief trial that started Monday. After the verdict was read, Aretha Franklin's grandchildren stepped forward from the first row to hug Kecalf and Edward.

"I'm very, very happy. I just wanted my mother's wishes to be adhered to," Kecalf Franklin said. "We just want to exhale right now. It's been a long five years for my family, my children."

Aretha Franklin was a global star for decades, known especially for hits like "Think," "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Respect." She did not leave behind a formal, typewritten will when she died five years ago at age 76.

But documents, with scribbles and hard-to-decipher passages, emerged in 2019 when a niece scoured the home for records.

In closing arguments, lawyers for Kecalf and Edward Franklin said the fact that the 2014 papers were found in a notebook in couch cushions did not make them less significant.

"You can take your will and leave it on the kitchen counter. It's still your will," Charles McKelvie told the jury.

Another lawyer, Craig Smith, pointed to the first line of the document, which was displayed on four large posters in front of the jury.

"Says right here: 'This is my will.' She's speaking from the grave, folks," Smith said of Franklin.

Kecalf and Edward had teamed up against brother Ted White II, who favored the 2010 will. White's attorney, Kurt Olson, noted the earlier will was under lock and key. He said it was much more important than papers found in a couch.

"We were here to see what the jury would rule. We'll live with it," Olson said after the verdict.

The jury found that the 2014 version was signed by Aretha Franklin, who put a smiley face in the letter 'A.'

There still will be discussions over whether some provisions of the 2010 will should be fulfilled and whether Kecalf Franklin could become executor of the estate. Judge Jennifer Callaghan told all sides to file briefs and attend a status conference next week.

Franklin's estate managers have been paying bills, settling millions in tax debts and generating income through music royalties and other intellectual property. The will dispute, however, has been unfinished business.

There are differences between the 2010 and 2014 versions, though they both appear to indicate that Franklin's four sons would share income from music and copyrights.

But under the 2014 will, Kecalf Franklin and grandchildren would get his mother's main home in Bloomfield Hills, which was valued at $1.1 million when she died but is worth much more today.

The older will said Kecalf, 53, and Edward Franklin, 64, "must take business classes and get a certificate or a degree" to benefit from the estate. That provision is not in the 2014 version.

White, who played guitar with Aretha Franklin, testified against the 2014 will, saying his mother typically would get important documents done "conventionally and legally" and with assistance from an attorney. He did not immediately comment after the verdict.

The sharpest remarks of the trial came from Smith, who represented Edward Franklin. He told the jury White "wants to disinherit his two brothers. Teddy wants it all."

Kecalf Franklin sat near White during the trial but they did not appear to speak to each other.

"I love my brother with all my heart," Kecalf said outside court when asked if there was a rift.

Aretha Franklin's other son, Clarence Franklin, lives under guardianship in an assisted living center and did not participate in the trial.

  • Tuesday, Jul. 4, 2023
Grammys CEO on new guidelines: Music that contains AI-created elements is eligible. "Period."
Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, appears at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. In June, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the forthcoming Grammy Awards to better reflect an evolving music industry, including new AI protocols. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Last month, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards to better reflect an evolving music industry. Of those newly instituted guidelines, protocols involving technological advancements in machine learning sparked headlines: "Only human creators" could win the music industry's highest honor in a decision aimed at the use of artificial intelligence in popular music.

"A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category," the rules read in part.

As the music industry continues to come to terms with this new technology, so too will the Grammys, says Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr.

"Here's the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period," Mason told The Associated Press. "What's not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion."

If an AI or voice modeling program performs the lead vocal on a song, the track would be eligible in a songwriting category, for example, but not a performance category, because "what is performing is not human creation," he explains. "Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category."

"As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win," he continued. "We don't want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that's why we took this particular stand in this award cycle."

The Recording Academy has long considered setting rules related to AI following the popularity of new songs created alongside AI technology: David Guetta's "Emin-AI-em", the AI -compositions of TikTok user @ghostwriter977, Grimes' voice modeling AI software.

In order to establish their AI guidelines, the Recording Academy engaged in extensive research, including holding tech summits.

"I've met with the copyright office. We've talked about the future and what that looks like on a federal level and the legislative level," Mason said, adding that AI conversations "really came to a head in the last six months."

The new Grammy AI protocols were announced three days after Paul McCartney shared that "the last Beatles record" had been composed using artificial intelligence to extract John Lennon's voice from an old demo. Without knowing the extent of the technology, Mason couldn't confirm or deny whether the song would be eligible for a Grammy nomination.

"We'll see what it turns out to be," he said. "But I would imagine from the early descriptions that I've heard there would be components of the creation that would be absolutely eligible."

So, can Grammy viewers expect to see work at least partially created with AI nominated for an award as early as next year?

It's impossible to predict what is submitted. But as Mason affirms, "people are using the technology. I'm imagining it's going to be involved in a lot of records a lot of songs this year, so we'll see if some of them get nominated or not, but I'm sure there'll be some that will be submitted."

The 2024 Grammy Awards will return to Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, airing live on CBS and livestreamed on Paramount+.

 

  • Thursday, Jun. 29, 2023
2024 Grammys will be held Feb. 4 in Los Angeles
Grammy Awards are displayed at the Grammy Museum Experience at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Oct. 10, 2017. The Recording Academy on Thursday, June 29, 2023, announced a few key dates for the forthcoming 66th annual Grammy Awards. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

The Grammy Awards are returning to Los Angeles on the first Sunday in February.

The Recording Academy announced several key dates ahead of its 66th annual show honoring the best in music. CBS will air the main ceremony starting at 8 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 4 from Crypto.com Arena, and it will be livestreamed on Paramount+.

The ceremony will feature several new changes.

Earlier this month, the Recording Academy announced that three new categories will be added to the Grammys in 2024: best pop dance recording, best African music performance, and best alternative jazz album.

They also shared a few new voting rules, including new protocols regarding AI technology. "A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category," the requirements read in part, specifying that while songs that utilize AI technology are eligible for inclusion, "the human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful."

In addition, to win a nomination for the album of the year category, a music creator now has to account for at least 20% of the work. That's a reversal of 2021 rule change that allowed anyone who worked on the album to receive a nomination.

The number of those eligible in the "Big Four" categories — best new artists as well as album, song, and record of the year — has been decreased from 10 to eight nominees.

Nominations will be announced on Nov. 10.

  • Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2023
Squeak E. Clean Studios promotes Max Taylor to head of production
Max Taylor
NEW YORK -- 

International creative audio network Squeak E. Clean Studios has promoted Max Taylor from sr. producer to head of production. Taylor joined Squeak E. Clean Studios in 2020 after spending four years at 20th Century Fox coordinating music for the hit drama Empire. Since joining the team, Taylor has produced a wide range of projects, including working collaboratively with Squeak’s global ensemble on Budweiser’s “Tomorrow Is Yours to Take” campaign featuring Anderson.Paak as well as the recent Marriott “Roam Around the World” campaign that included a series of covers of “roam” by the B-52s across a multitude of genres of sound. 

Chicago native Taylor grew up in the music industry, spending his formative years around concerts and musicians with his father as a sound engineer. He studied recording industry at Butler University before kicking off his career in music ticketing and promotions. He spent five years working across multiple functions of live events between Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, liaising between artists, management teams and venues to optimize the guest experience. In 2016, he joined the production team of Empire as a music production liaison, overseeing the end-to-end process for the music-driven series. 

  • Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2023
Composer Dan Deacon joins Barking Owl
Dan Deacon
LOS ANGELES -- 

Barking Owl has added Baltimore-based musician Dan Deacon to its roster of composers.  Within the realm of live performance, Deacon has premiered compositions at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and collaborated with innumerable artists and institutions, including Kronos Quartet, Sō Percussion, the L.A. Philharmonic, and Justin Peck with the New York City Ballet. Deacon has also toured internationally with popular recording artists, including Arcade Fire, Miley Cyrus, Future Islands, and The Flaming Lips. When performing solo, Deacon’s live shows are known for large-scale audience participation, frequently setting up his performance space on the floor level with the audience engaged in close proximity.

Deacon’s work in the classic-contemporary scene led him into the world of film and television. Deacon created original music for Francis Ford Coppola’s horror feature film Twixt, starring Val Kilmer. His work composing for documentary films All Light, Everywhere (2021, Sundance Film Festival) and Ascension (2021, Tribeca Film Festival) garnered him nominations for Outstanding Original Score at the Cinema Eye Honors in 2022, with Deacon taking home the prize for Ascension. Deacon has also provided the musical score for the sports drama Hustle starring Adam Sandler, currently streaming on Netflix.

  • Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2023
Halle Petro named ECD At Sonic Union
Halle Petro
NEW YORK -- 

Halle Petro has been upped to executive creative director at Sonic Union. In her new role, Petro will be instrumental in deepening the studio’s sonic storytelling experiences for entertainment and advertising--including collaborations with music and sound narratives. She’ll also continue to expand Sonic Union’s podcast productions working closely with a team that includes creative producer Kimu Elolia.

Prior to being named executive creative director, Petro was Sonic Union’s executive creative producer working on music and sound collaborations. As Sonic Union started having demand for more creative project applications and liaising, Petro moved the company into new areas of exploration to further diversify the studio’s offerings. 

Among them, working with clients to develop high-impact content with creatively driven sound design, and creating a team for original composition and a catalog of music for licensing. That breadth of work includes commercials, documentary features, episodic television, animated series, award winning podcasts and sound installations.

  • Tuesday, Jun. 13, 2023
Grammy Awards add 3 categories
Grammy Awards are displayed at the Grammy Museum Experience at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Oct. 10, 2017. The Recording Academy has announced three new categories to be added to the 2024 Grammy Awards: Best Pop Dance Recording, Best African Music Performance, and Best Alternative Jazz Album. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

More change is afoot at the Grammys. The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that three new categories will be added to the awards show in 2024: best pop dance recording, best African music performance, and best alternative jazz album.

In addition, two existing categories have been moved to the general field, which means that all Grammy voters can participate in selecting the winners: producer of the year, non-classical, and songwriter of the year, non-classical, the latter of which was first introduced this year.

Previously, the general categories were made up solely of the "Big Four" awards: best new artist, as well as album, record, and song of the year. Grammy voters are eligible to vote in general categories, as well as up to ten categories across three genre fields — and are instructed only to vote in their area of expertise. The changes to those two categories reflect an evolving music industry, where songwriters and producers have become increasingly celebrated for their contributions.

The new best African music performance category will highlight "regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions," according to a Recording Academy press release, including genres like "Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz."

Before the addition, those artists would compete in the best global music performance category, first introduced in 2022 as part of the global music field.

Prior to 2020, the field was previously referred to as "world music." The Grammys enacted the name change to curb "connotations of colonialism," according to a press release.

The best pop dance recording category is defined by "up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement" and recordings that "feature strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody and hooks." Dance remixes do not apply.

And finally, the best alternative jazz album category will spotlight alternative jazz albums that blend genre, hybridizing jazz and other musical styles including "R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word."

"The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape," Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said in a statement.

"By introducing these three new Categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists," he said. "We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these Categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide."

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