Harvey Mason, Jr is CEO of the Recording Academy, the nonprofit organization most famous for the Grammy Awards. We spoke right before this year's Grammy nominations came out, and you'll hear us talk a whole lot about the changes he's tried to make with how the awarding membership works. I always say to watch what’s happening to the music industry because it’s a preview into what will happen to every other creative industry five years later. My chat with Harvey really drove the point home: AI, diversity, streaming distribution... it's all here, and all the tensions that come with. Links: 2025 Grammy nominations: The complete list | NPR The Grammys Move From CBS To Disney In Major 10-Year Deal | Deadline Recording Academy boots Grammy voters | Los Angeles Times Chappell Roan and the problem with fandom | Vox Grammys CEO: Music that contains AI-created elements is eligible | AP News Deborah Dugan Grammys Controversy: What to Know | Time For Taylor Swift, the Future of Music Is a Love Story | Wall Street Journal (2014) AI is on a collision course with music | Decoder Elvis Costello defends Olivia Rodrigo over ‘Brutal’ plagiarism claim | BBC Why Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen thinks AI is the future | Decoder Transcript: Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Nilan Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. Today I'm talking with Harvey Mason Jr. He's the CEO of The Recording Academy, the nonprofit organization that puts on the Grammy Awards, the most prestigious awards in music, and which runs the Music Cares charity, which helps artists in need.
Harvey is a fascinating guy. As a musician and producer, he's worked on projects with Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Girls' Generation, tons more. as well as produced the music in movies like Pitch Perfect and Straight Outta Compton. As CEO of the Academy, Harvey's had a lot of work to do since he started in January 2020.
His predecessor was ousted after just five months in the role in a swirl of scandals, and the Grammys, along with the Emmys and the Oscars at that time, were facing a reckoning with massive race and gender inequality in the awards. On top of all that, the music industry itself came to a crashing halt during the pandemic as live concerts and award shows stopped happening.
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