Denaun speaks with Harvey Mason Jr. about the GRAMMYs voting system

Denaun Porter has launched a new podcast titled The Man Behind The Music Podcast, offering fans and aspiring musicians a rare look into the creative process behind film, television, and hit records. Co-hosted by fellow music heavyweights Rockwilder and Derryck “Big Tank” Thornton, the show features behind-the-scenes stories, live music creation, and candid conversations with notable artists and producers. The first episode includes appearances from battle rapper DNA, who creates the podcast’s theme on air, and singer Hailey Kilgore, who performs and shares her musical journey.

The podcast aims to bridge the gap between music production and visual storytelling, highlighting how sound shapes emotion in TV and film. It also offers emerging artists a chance to submit music through Patreon for potential placement in major media projects. With decades of experience and over 40 million records sold, Porter brings unique insight and authenticity to this venture, providing an educational and inspiring platform for music lovers and creators alike.

In the forth episode of the podcast, the crew sat down with Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Recording Academy to talk about the GRAMMYs. From how nominations are chosen to the industry’s shift toward independent artists, Harvey opens up about the evolving landscape of music, fairness, and the future of the world’s biggest music awards. They also dive into Harvey’s journey from platinum producer to one of the most powerful executives in entertainment. He shares thoughts on GRAMMY controversies, the impact of artists like Beyoncé and Bad Bunny, and how the Academy is working to stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry. If you’ve ever questioned how the GRAMMYs work—or dreamed of winning one—this episode is a must-watch.

At one point of the interview, Denaun asked Harvey to explain the voting system of the GRAMMYs. “It starts with our voting members. We have 12,000 voting members. To be a voting member you have to be a professional creator in the industry. You can’t be a lawyer or executive. You need to be a producer, music engineer, writer, performer, musician, that type of creator. As a voting member, you get a ballot. The first round ballot is all the submissions that everybody submitted. So, pretty much everybody can submit their music for consideration. We usually get from 15,000 to 20,000 submissions every year. So ballot’s very big. That ballots goes out to 12,000 voters. The voters look through it. Hopefully they listen to it. I encourage all the voters to listen to the stuff we don’t know and then you vote. The vote is based on your opinion. That’s it. On the ballot it doesn’t say how many streams they have, whatever downloads they got, how many concert tickets they sold, Instagram followers. It’s just music. And the voters are asked to listen to the music and evaluate it in their opinion. Of course this stuff is subjective, depending on how you grew up, what genre of music you listen to, you might vote differently.” said Harvey Mason Jr.

Then he continued: “So the voters vote, we count votes, we have top 5 or top 8, depending on what category it is and then there is a second round ballot. Second round ballot goes out to those 12,000 voters again. They look at the five or eight and they pick their favorite. That person with the most votes wins. Period. That’s it.”

You can watch the interview below: