by Robel Wondimu ‘13

The Grammys have come to exemplify all that’s wrong with the music industry: commercial-sellout artists thrive, while more legitimate artists are passed by. The nomination process is to blame.

Record companies and artists submit their work to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) in order to be reviewed by a panel of 150 experts who determine its eligibility for nomination. They then vote and the top five are selected in each category.

The NARAS states that votes are not based on record sales, chart performance or record company influence, but the quality of the music alone. This seems untrue, especially when 2Chainz won a Best Rap Album nomination for “Based On A T.R.U. Story” when an undoubtedly higher quality artist like Childish Gambino wasn’t nominated for his album “Camp” last year.

As The Los Angeles Times noted in their respective reviews, 2Chainz is “not a very good lyricist, his flow is a little clumsy and his phrasing is monotonous,” while Gambino has “emotional rawness … shot through with surprisingly legitimate R&B vocals.”

As of mid-January, “Based on a T.R.U. Story” has sold nearly 500,000 copies, while “Camp” hasn’t even broken the 200,000 mark. Yet the NARAS still contends that sales are not a factor in nominations. Ultimately, the Grammys and CBS care more about the size of the audience watching the awards show and try to maximize viewers by only nominating commercially successful artists because it isn’t popular or profitable to promote the art of an unknown musician, so they don’t.