Nate Hertweck is a writer, editor, aspiring musician and recovering audio engineer who worked at the Recording Academy for over a decade. You can find him in Los Angeles catching a local show, performing in dive bar bands, listening to audiobooks on the 405, and covering all things music for GRAMMY.com. A native New Mexican and graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, Nate specializes in songwriting, recording, music advocacy, local music scenes, music history and, of course, Bob Dylan.
An important and inclusive change is pulsing through the 2021 GRAMMYs process and resonating across the music community worldwide. The category formerly known as Best World Music Album will now be known as Best Global Music Album moving forward. For the inaugural class of nominees under the reimagined category banner, the nod is twice as sweet. The adjustment in wording…
Updated Jan. 5, 2021. Every picture tells a story, don't it? With visual aesthetics and original style more important than ever in the music world, the Best Music Video category continues to honor the most stunning, striking and moving music videos the year has to offer. Honoring the artist, video director and video producer, this award has gone to past…
Updated Jan. 5, 2021. Songwriting plays a paramount role in the creative process behind any genre, but county songwriters are cut from a different cloth. With clever wordplay, catchy hooks and creative authenticity as the baseline for a solid cut, great country songs and their writers often exemplify the craft's highest gold standard. The 2021 GRAMMY nominees for Best Country…
From Domenico Modugno's win for "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)" at the inaugural GRAMMY Awards for 1958 to Billie Eilish's win for "Bad Guy" at the 62nd GRAMMYs earlier this year, the Song Of The Year category has remained one of the highest honor achievable for songwriters for over six decades. Today, we celebrate a new crop of creators…
Tuesday, Nov. 3 is Election Day, but the time to act is now. Thankfully, the Recording Academy has partnered with HeadCount to make it simple, easy and fast for music creators to register to vote. The #MusicVotes campaign provides the valuable resources you need to exercise their right to vote in the 2020 election and make sure every voice is…
As the top of the year nears, so does the launch of one of the greatest triumphs of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), as the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) will begin administering a new blanket mechanical license for streaming and download services on Jan. 1, 2021. This spells good news for songwriters, composers, lyricists, and publishers, who will start receiving…
Encouraging news for creators arrived this week from Washington, as the House of Representatives voted late Thursday on an updated version of the HEROES Act. The new $2.2 trillion, creator-friendly relief bill includes numerous provisions that would provide critical assistance to the music community. The HEROES Act serves as an important step in the bipartisan negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans.…
On behalf of its membership and the music community it serves, the Recording Academy welcomes the 14th Register of Copyrights to office, Shira Perlmutter. On Sept. 21, Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden announced Perlmutter as the next Register of Copyrights and her service at the U.S. Copyright Office will begin next month. “The Recording Academy congratulates Shira Perlmutter on…
Anyone who knows anything about him, knows: Jacob Collier is on another level. The prodigious British musician, composer and arranger extraordinaire has notched tens of millions of YouTube views and four GRAMMYs with his effortless command of the medium of music. And even though, traditionally, transparent geniuses are hard to come by, Collier shares his heart and mind for music…
Half a century ago, and almost three decades before Carlos Santana and company went Supernatural, psychedelic Latin rockers Santana released their legendary second studio album, Abraxas, on Sept. 23, 1970. The band borrowed the album's aptly dazzing title from a book called Demian credited to Emil Sinclair, a pen name of author Hermann Hesse, who also wrote Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass…
For independent artists fighting to find a following, build a buzz and continue to create during the pandemic, the show must go on. With the release of his visually stunning music video for "Fly," Trent Park has powered through, delivering fresh new sights and sounds while finding creative and thoughtful ways to collaborate within the many health restrictions the COVID era has…
While so many industries have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the impact on local live music and entertainment has perhaps been the most devastating. With performance venues indefinitely shut down, it's not just the artists and musicians who are suffering, but also the business owners and crew. Lending his world-famous voice to the call for help, GRAMMY nominee Taylor…
Music may be the universal language, but songwriting certainly has its American dialects. Just ask acclaimed champion of the craft, Cliff Goldmacher. Over the past three decades, he's lived and written songs in Nashville, New York, Los Angles, San Francisco and more, each locale with a homespun songwriting culture all its own. He's also collaborated across genres with a wide…
The Recording Academy has united its elected leadership in support of the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, a bipartisan solution that would offer independent creators a new tax incentive to bolster the music community’s recovery from the economic effects of coronavirus. On August 27, more than 300 of the Recording Academy’s elected leaders across all 12 Chapters signed a letter…
Ever since the initial passage of California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) back in September 2019, the Recording Academy has been fighting for a much-needed amendment to exempt music makers from the bill's sweeping intentions to regulate gig-economy workers.. At its annual Entertainment Law Initiative back in January, the Academy discussed the issue during a panel and has continued to work with…
Normally, you'd find Ebonie Smith behind the console in the New York City, where she works as a producer/engineer for Atlantic Records. But on the latest episode of audio mainstay "Pensado's Place," Smith gives us an all-access tour of Made In Memphis and 4U Studio, the home base of legendary songwriter/producer David Porter. <style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height:…
Los Angeles alternative outfit Charming Liars have released a brand new benefit single. The song: a soaring cover of one of their favorite Post Malone songs, "Cirlcles." The cause: to raise funds for disaster relief efforts following the devastating Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Have a listen: <style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;…
Now more than ever, advocating for creators' rights is an essential part of preserving and improving the music industry. In a year wrought with devastating shutdowns, cancellations and closures due to the pandemic, music makers rely all the more on trickling income streams, essential stimulus legislation, and fair pay for their work. Springing into action, the Recording Academy launched the…
The GRAMMY Museum has announced new Letter of Inquiry requirements along with the guidelines for its 2021 Grant Program. Generously funded by the Recording Academy, the GRAMMY Museum Grant Program has awarded more than $7.5 million to more than 400 noteworthy projects. The Grant Program administers grants annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the music and recorded sound…
Greatness takes time, and there are no shortcuts. Haim have been creating music together for two decades now, and it shows: In the latest edition of GRAMMY.com's Press Play, the Los Angeles family band lay it down and light it up with this at-home performance of "Gasoline" from their newly released third album, Women In Music Pt. III. From the comfort of their home music…
