Latino suit against Grammy's dismissed

Judge dismisses Grammy lawsuit

Dismisses lawsuit over Grammy category cuts but Bobby Sanabria vows to fight on

The Telegraph (UK) (30 Apr 2012)

A lawsuit filed against the Recording Academy over its decision to trim the Grammy Award categories, eliminating such categories as Latin jazz, has been dismissed.

The ruling last week by New York State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Oing granted the Academy's motion to reject a lawsuit by Grammy-nominated jazz musician Bobby Sanabria and three others.

Sanabria had been the loudest opponent of the Academy's decision last year to reduce its categories from 109 to 78 and fold some genres into larger fields. A vocal group that protested the cuts drew sympathizers that at one point included Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Sanabria called the cuts unfair, and even racist.

In an interview, Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow said he was gratified by the court's decision.

Sanabria held out the possibility of an appeal. "It's disappointing, but I expected this to be a long fight," he said.

The Academy announced last April that after a more than yearlong review, it had decided to trim its categories, in part to make the awards more competitive. That meant eliminating categories by sex, so men and women compete in the same vocal categories.

But it also eliminated other niche categories and created broader ones. For example, instead of a best Latin jazz album, those musicians competed against a larger group of artists in the best jazz instrumental category.

In his lawsuit, Sanabria accused the Academy of not following proper procedures and demanded that the best Latin jazz category be reinstated, saying the removal had a detrimental effect on the musicians' careers.

As the February awards drew closer, few key stars aligned themselves with Sanabria's cause.

Portnow said Sanabria represented a small number of the Academy's members and that most had no problem with the changes.

The Academy's board of trustees is due to meet in May to consider last year's other changes and other matters involving the Grammys. However, Portnow said it is unlikely they will reverse the cuts.

Sanabria was hopeful the board, which he said consists of new members sympathetic to his coalition's cause, might restore the categories. If not, Sanabria seemed prepared to continue the fight, which he said was for the good of the Academy.

"In families, there is always conflict," he said. "We love the Academy, and that's why we're fighting for this."

Coalition of musicians announce boycott of CBS, Grammys

Organizer claimes the reductions unfairly target ethnic music and call the Academy's decision racist.
By Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Huffington Post 

NEW YORK -- A coalition of musicians that has protested the Recording Academy's decision to drop 31 categories from the Grammy Awards is stepping up the pressure, calling for a boycott of the Grammys' telecast partner, CBS, and hiring a lawyer to explore legal action.

"We will ask people to stop watching CBS, boycott their sponsors and then write them," said Bobby Sanabria, a Grammy-nominated Latin jazz musician and the leader of the coalition, in an interview Wednesday night. "We're at a critical juncture."

The changes have drawn complaints from the likes of Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon and Bill Cosby. They also have gotten attention from organizations like the National Institute of Latino Policy, which issued a statement Thursday in support of Sanabria's coalition.

Sanabria has claimed the reductions unfairly target ethnic music and called the Academy's decision racist.

In response, the Recording Academy said Thursday evening that while it respected the coalition's right to disagree, it rejected its allegations.

"The Recording Academy's board of trustees and its committees - made up of elected, qualified voting members from The Academy's 12 chapter cities around the country and a broad spectrum of music makers - spent two years researching and ultimately making the decision to restructure the Grammy Awards categories for reasons that had everything to do with recognizing excellence in music and the integrity of our awards and nothing to do with ethnicity or race," said a statement from the organization.

CBS is scheduled to broadcast the Grammys next February from Los Angeles. The network declined to comment, a representative said Thursday.

In a move that came as a surprise to some, the Academy announced in April that it was reducing the number of award categories from 109 to 78. While the changes involve mainstream categories such as eliminating the male and female divisions in the pop vocal category to one general field, the Academy also reduced specific categories, including some of the instrumental categories in pop, rock and country; traditional gospel; children's spoken-word album; Zydeco or Cajun music album; best Latin jazz album; and best classical crossover album. Artists in those categories will now have to compete in more general fields, making the process more competitive.

Sanabria said the Academy made the changes without the knowledge of its members and has not released minutes from its meetings regarding the changes.