Why Is It Important To Vote For The 2023 GRAMMYs? Prince Royce, Antwane, Andrew Joslyn & Other Recording Academy Members Speak

There are only two days left to participate in first-round voting for the 2023 GRAMMYs; final-round voting will commence Dec. 14.

If you're a Recording Academy member, and you haven't yet voted, check out the list linked below — a detailed series of reasons why participating in this precious process is so important to the music community worldwide.

But if you'd rather hear it directly from Recording Academy members, they have your back. In a series of Twitter Spaces and Instagram Live conversations, Recording Academy members from Prince Royce to Antwane opened up about the cruciality of this process.

The 2023 GRAMMY nominations are officially here. See the complete list of nominees across all 91 GRAMMY categories.

In an Oct. 19 Twitter Spaces conversation co-helmed by the Recording Academy and R&B publication Rated R&B, Len Brown — the head of hip-hop, R&B and reggae at the Academy — and Rated R&B editorial assistant Antwane Folk — underlined why it's so important to raise your voice and vote for the 2023 GRAMMYs.

"It's important in the sense that you want your genre represented — in this case, we're talking R&B, rap, or whatever," Brown said. "You want to make sure those people are getting their just deserts, and their recognition."

Folk raised a germane point in response: "That doesn't mean these are going to be major artists," he said. "These can be independent artists that are among the five nominated.

"This is a peer-based award," Folk added. "These are people within the music community — performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, instrumentalists, and other creators who are actively working in the recording industry, who can determine the GRAMMY winners and GRAMMY nominees each year."

"That's what makes it different from the other awards," Brown replied. "You have media pundits; you have journalists; you have fans; you have a lot of other folks that are weighing in on certain people winning."

In comparison, he said, "This award is about the people that do it, just like you."

Read More: Your Vote, Your Voice: 6 Reasons Why Your GRAMMY Vote Matters

Another Twitter Spaces moderated by Recording Academy Membership Manager Amanda Garcia Davenport included Songwriters & Composers Wing Managing Director Susan Stewart, violinist and recording artist Andrew Joslyn, and blues singer/songwriter Diana Durrett.

"The people that are writing songs for a living and are producing records — that's who's going to be voting for you," Durrett said. "I think that's nice that you're going to be respected and awarded [by] someone who really is in there, and knows what it takes to make a recording, or write a great song."

Echoing other's remarks about the GRAMMYs being a peer-to-peer award, Stewart chimed in: "That's why we need our whole, entire community represented in voting for this."

Joslyn noted the importance of "uphold[ing] the integrity of the awards — because it's peer-[to-peer], we need that input from the entire populace of the music industry." Also, he pointed out, the show isn't just for its own sake — it funds the Academy's critical ventures, like MusiCares and Advocacy.

Over on Instagram, Recording Academy Executive Director Jessica Toon spoke with Thunderpussy vocalist Molly Sides and music producer Dani Deahl.

Sides framed the voting process as "showing up" for our peers and colleagues to "spark change"; Toon noted it as "the ultimate music discovery tool." And Diehl correctly pointed out that being a Recording Academy member goes several steps beyond simply voting.

"You actually get to help shape the rules and the categories," Diehl continued, "and really, foundationally change the way things operate."

For example, she added, she helped push forward a proposal to add the "/Electronic" tag to "Best Dance Album" — which may seem like a subtle change, but significantly helped open up the category to other artists in the electronic realm.

Traveling back in time a week and change, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. held an enlightening conversation on IG Live with Om'mas Keith, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Recording Academy's Board of Trustees; and Tammy Hurt, Chair of the Board of Trustees.

"There used to be things called committees that were doing some work to try to curate and pull together the right nominations. They were groups that made sure that last-minute entries weren't overlooked, or making sure there were things that were in the right places. " Mason said.

"Those are no longer in place," he continued. It is purely the vote of the members — the vote of your peers, the vote of people who are listening to the music and judging it on the quality… and excellence of the art. It's not streams; it's not sales, popularity, Instagram followers, who charted."

"That's why I'm part of the GRAMMYs," Keith added. "Because it's such a powerful award, and it feels so good to win an award knowing that your peers awarded you."

And speaking more broadly of positive shifts in the Academy throughout her decade-long tenure, Hurt cited Recording Academy membership as the key, driving force. "[We took] this feedback that we'd gotten, and [took] the initiatives that had begun. 

"The Academy is what it is today because we're finally starting to get the right people in the room," Hurt continued. "The right people to have the conversations — the right people to vote on the awards. It's really, truly a new day — a new era."

The "Your Vote Your Voice" Twitter Spaces series continued on Oct. 21, with Latin pop/R&B singer Prince Royce, singer/songwriter Tanerélle, and pop/rockers Deep Sea Diver — moderated by veteran music executive Quiana Conley.

Speaking to why certain artists will be nominated for 2023 GRAMMYs, Tanerélle underscored the supremacy of musical quality — period.

"It doesn't have anything to do with the stata of the charts," she said, "but how you genuinely feel, from the people you're listening to and the creators that you admire, that uplift you and inspire you."

Deep Sea Diver's Jessica Dobson noted that the process once seemed relatively opaque to her. "To be honest, in my mind, there were a lot of presumptions that I had, and a lot of mystique around what the GRAMMYs were and how the process worked," she said. And with time, "it was demystified, and I also had a lot of wrong assumptions."

"Oftentimes, people that complain about nominations aren't even voting," Royce said. "So, for me, one thing is educating people about what the Academy is about, and how voting goes down."

Let these inspiring conversations on Twitter and Instagram clear up any misconceptions or misgivings about the GRAMMYs voting process — so you, too, can get out and vote!

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