Benefits of Recording Academy membership
November 27, 2007 1:06 PM   Subscribe

If you are or were a member of the Recording Academy (Grammy Fdn), would you recommend I join? Has it had any notable benefits or negatives that weren't clear to you before you joined, and has it been worth the annual fee?

I'm mainly asking if there's anything you would've advised yourself before you joined the Academy (especially if it was "don't bother") or any further research I should do.

(Feel free to send me a private message if you'd rather.)

I qualify to join as a voting member, but I want to do research before I join since there's the $100/yr fee. I do live in a city with a local chapter that has regular events, but A) it's not stated on the website whether those events also cost a lot or are free for members; and B) realistically, I probably wouldn't make time for most of them.

The site is not at all clear about member benefits; it just gives a list of businesses and publications (which I'm assuming offer small discounts to members, same as you'd get as a member of any other professional org like ascap).

It seems like the main benefit is the voting itself, including the ability to nominate albums for the initial voting. Is that right or am I missing something?
posted by allterrainbrain to Media & Arts (2 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
So I'm not a member of the Recording Academy, not am I a musician, but a friend of mine is the president of the NW chapter and I had the pleasure of speaking at a recent conference they put on in Seattle and attending one of the after conference mixer.

What I heard over and over from musicians, producers, and folks who owned indie labels of distribution companies was that the event and the org was totally worth it. Many of the people I talked to were from outside the PNW (Detroit, NYC, Nashville).

I was surprised, frankly, at how enthusiastic and unequivocally supportive everyone I met there was about the Recording Academy 'cause frankly I figured they just voted for the Grammies.

I expect that YMMV depending on the chapter, but them's my 2 cents as someone outside the indutry who was impressed with what I saw.
posted by donovan at 2:44 PM on November 27, 2007


Ahem.

I'm mark's friend who is President of the NW chapter.

All Recording Academy events are free to members, with the exception of charity events we organize to raise money for MusiCares.

And yeah, the Academy site is terrible. Our branch is spearheading an effort to drag the academy kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Progress is slow, obviously, but we'll get there. Our goal is to set up a community based site for members, so that we can share institutional knowledge and become a focal point for musicians and the music industry. The future is online. But if you're from around here, you already know that.

If you'd like to know more, I'd be happy to meet and chat. I'm obviously bullish about our chapter, but I think you'd see that we've got an extraordinary group up here in the NW, and I guarantee you wouldn't be disappointed.

s.
posted by smack at 4:21 PM on November 29, 2007


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