Lady Dentaa Amoateng, a consultant to Grammy Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., has advised Ghanaian musicians and producers to become members of the Recording Academy, a move she believes will greatly improve the country’s chances of securing Grammy wins.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz with Kwame Dadzie and Doreen Avio, Dentaa stressed that without Ghanaian representation within the Academy, the country’s music will continue to be overlooked in key Grammy voting processes.
“The process of the Grammy Awards is that you have to be a member of the Recording Academy to vote. It is not voted by Harvey Mason Jnr. It is voted by producers, musicians; people in that industry. So you have to be part of that. And it is in America. So people that are voting, they don’t know your music. So more of us [Ghanaians] have to join the membership to be able to vote,” she said.
Dentaa clarified that signing up for membership is a straightforward process done through the Academy’s website. “It’s easy. It’s on the website. It’s a very easy process. You actually need two references, someone to verify that you are who you are: one that is already a member of the Academy and one that is not, so they can recommend that you are a producer, you are a musician,” she explained.
Touching on the inclusion of non-Africans in the African Music Performance category, Dentaa said the solution lies in increasing African participation in the Academy’s decision-making processes.
“That is why we need Africans to be able to vote. If you are on the Board, you have voting rights. There are meetings that they go through the process, so if there are more of us on that platform, then you won’t get non-Africans infusing in that category too much. So I think it is really important,” she stated.
She revealed plans to spearhead a nationwide campaign to encourage more Ghanaian creatives to join the Recording Academy, which currently has over 16,000 members, including more than 13,000 eligible to vote.
The Academy’s voting members include musicians, producers, composers, engineers, and instrumentalists, while professional members range from managers and label executives to lawyers and publicists. Another group, GRAMMY U, caters to university students pursuing music-related studies who aim to gain industry mentorship and exposure.
