The HITS Interview: Harvey Mason Jr.

When Harvey Mason Jr. took over as interim CEO of The Recording Academy in early 2020, the Grammy Awards were in shambles. His predecessor, Deborah Dugan, brought in as a change agent in the wake of longtime Grammy chieftain Neil Portnow's disparaging remarks about women artists, was fired just weeks before the ceremony took place. Her sudden dismissal prompted a lawsuit against the Academy that exposed alleged sexual harassment, conflicts of interest and voting irregularities within the organization.

That Mason, a successful songwriter-producer who'd been with the Academy in various capacities since 2007, would turn around the fortunes of the Grammys was no foregone conclusion. In his now six years leading the organization, he's faced, among challenges, two waves of COVID that prompted full-blown revamps of the ceremony, a writers' strike, last year's devastating L.A. wildfires and the protracted death of broadcast television. Within the biz and among creatives, Mason was publicly reproached for the Academy's shortchanging of hip-hop and for its jarring snub of The Weeknd in 2020.

"Without the right voting and the right outcomes, the organization suffers," he tells HITS, and by all accounts, the Academy got the nominations right this year, as it has in the past few, since Mason Jr. and team began aggressively adding younger and more diverse members to its voting rolls. On Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny will compete for this year's biggest prizes, joined by top stars including Sabrina Carpenter, HUNTR/X, Justin Bieber, Tyler, the Creator, Doechii, Clipse, Leon Thomas and Olivia Dean. This marks the show's last year on its longtime broadcast home, CBS, as Mason and the Academy signed a 10-year deal with Disney to bring the ceremony to ABC, Disney+ and Hulu, a pact the Wall Street Journal valued at more than $500m.

When Disney learns that Mason talked to HITS, they may reconsider.

As we speak, we're, what, two weeks and five days away from the ceremony?

That sounds scarily correct.

What was your day like today, two weeks and five days before the Grammys?

A lot of time spent with show producers Ben [Winston], Raj [Kapoor], Jesse [Collins] and Patrick [Menton] talking talent, run of show, budgeting. A lot of time spent with our elected leadership, making sure that things are set up properly for Grammy week. A lot of time spent with artists, working on what songs are possible, which performers are going to be joined by other artists, all that creative stuff.

But it's not just the telecast. It's the BMC event, honoring Pharrell and Brandy and Kirk Franklin. It's the MusiCares’ Person of the Year honoring Mariah Carey. It's the Clive party. It's the Grammy House, all those performances. We have hundreds of artists involved in Grammy week activities.

And no wildfires this year, knock on wood, no COVID, no writers’ strike…

No fires literally or figuratively, but I don't want to jinx it. Right now we have a clear path to the show, but every show has its own set of challenges. Yes, the wildfires, or moving the show to Vegas because of COVID, is another level of challenge, but when you're talking about thousands of people who put on the broadcast, there is no shortage of challenges. It is always problem solving and trying to make sure the show resonates, make sure it's relevant, make sure we're getting the right representation of music on the stage.

Left, a junior Harvey Mason Jr. with Diane Warren and Clive Davis in 2011; right, Cher, Davis, Mason Jr. and Meryl Streep before the 2024 Pre-Grammy Gala (Mark Sullivan/WireImage; Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

It was announced last week that this will be Trevor Noah’s last year hosting. I presume that has something to do with the switch from CBS to Disney?

Actually, no. He's done an impeccable job hosting for six years and we're super thankful that he's been in that role.

What are your feelings about this being the last show with CBS after 50-plus years?

It's bittersweet. They've been great partners. After a long relationship like that it's always emotional transitioning, but I'm really excited about our opportunity with ABC and Disney.

Why is Disney the right fit for the Grammys moving forward?

We felt it gave us the opportunity to continue to evolve the brand and the show. Times have changed since our last media-rights deal. Consumption habits have changed, distribution models have changed, monetization has changed. So there was a creative alignment, which was the most important factor, but also a business alignment that made sense for both of our organizations.

What was your reaction when you heard that the Oscars were going to move to YouTube starting in 2029?

Everybody's trying to figure out what's best for their brand and their constituents. I look forward to seeing what they do. It's a different platform. It's a different strategy.

To be a voting member you have to have a certain amount of credits in the last five years to prove that you are a relevant person making a career of music. That's what we want. You might have been a member since 1970, but do you have the credits to make you a member today?

This cycle, the Academy added 3,800 new voting members, including all Latin Recording Academy voters. Of the new voters, 50% are under 40, 58% are people of color and 35% are women. Why are those demographics so important?

Our hope is to make sure that our membership is reflective of what's happening in music. When I first got in this role, I said, "We've got to make sure that the membership is accurate." And when I say accurate, I mean looking at our industry, looking at music, how it's made, who's making it, who's consuming it, and if our voting body is reflective of that. So we went on a five-year journey to become more reflective and more relevant. We made a lot of thoughtful and strategic changes. We looked at genres that we were underserving, looked at different constituencies of music creators that we were underserving, and we made a specific outreach. We re-qualified all of our members. As of Nov. 2024, over the last six years, 73% of the members were new.

When you say re-qualify, what does that mean?

To be a voting member you have to have a certain amount of credits in the last five years to prove that you are a relevant person making a career of music. That's what we want. It's not about fans, it's not about hobbyists, it's not about journalists (sorry). It's about professional music people voting for their peers. You might have been a member since 1970, but do you have the credits to make you a member today? So we had to let some of our older members move on to professional membership or some other class of membership, because to be a voting member, you have to have credits in the last five years.

Music is global. It comes from all around the world, and people are listening to music in different languages. Only liking music from the country that you're born in or that you live in is a bygone era. So this year we brought in members from the Latin Academy and invited them to become members of NARAS. We have to make sure our voting body is expert enough to be able to evaluate music coming from different places.

Once you get the right members, is it hard to get them to actually vote?

None of it's easy. Getting the right members isn’t easy, getting them to activate isn’t easy. But it's the job that we must do. And we have a great board of trustees. We have a great regional membership that makes sure there's an awareness around voting season. Because honestly, however our voting goes, so goes our entire organization. If we get the right nominations, we have the ability to have a great show, which keeps us relevant and enables us to do a media rights deal that provides resources for us to do all the work that we do. Without the right voting and the right outcomes, the organization suffers.

What work is there still to be done on that front?

There’s always work to be done, because every year the balance shifts. There might be a little bit more of one genre happening this year, or there might be one region of music that's popping right now. We're always going to be malleable. We can't stay stagnant and hope to be representing an evolving industry.

Left, with executive producer Ben Winston in 2023; right, tripping balls with The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Bob Weir in 2025 (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Do you think Bad Bunny would have received album, song and record nominations if not for the influx of new voting members?

I'm not sure. You never quite know what's going to resonate with voters, but this year his record was so impactful that I’m not sure that who voted or where they came from would have mattered.

This year, among the top nominees you have a Puerto Rican Spanish-language artist, a rapper from Compton and a very prominent advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. In our current political climate, does popular music, and by extension the Grammys, have a role to play in platforming marginalized or oppressed voices?

The Grammys doesn't fit into the political calculus whatsoever. What we do fit into is supporting artists, and anything that would muzzle or dampen their ability to express themselves would be a disservice to our creators. The Grammy organization's job is to support music people in creating impactful and important art.

Every year the balance shifts. There might be a little bit more of one genre happening this year, or there might be one region of music that's popping right now. We're always going to be malleable. We can't stay stagnant and hope to be representing an evolving industry.

Speak a little more about the globalization of the nominees this year. You have Bad Bunny, you have KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” up for Song. Does that present opportunities to add new audience?

More types of music is a great thing. Different people get to see themselves on screen. Different people get to dream of being one of those performers on our stage.

Meanwhile, the two biggest country music artists, Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan, chose not to submit to the Grammys this year. Why didn't they submit, and did you attempt to change their mind?

I wish everyone would submit. But if certain people don't feel like the awards process is for them, that's their choice. You named two incredible artists, and my hope is at some point they're part of the process, but I respect and honor their choice not to be.

Is there a rift between the Recording Academy and the country music industry?

I hope not. We continue to try and work really hard to make sure our membership in the country space is up to par and reflective of that community.

If you could unilaterally add one category to the Grammys, what would you add?

That’s not an issue that I ever have to worry about, because I don't have the ability to add, nor does any of the staff. All the categories are added by the members. Just so you and the readers understand, the members of a community might feel like there hasn't been a space for their music, or we're not representing their genre accurately or in a way that suits them. So, you'll get a groundswell of members who'll say, "We need to add a category." And that group will submit a proposal. That proposal will get put through the board of trustees, who are also members. So members create the proposal, submit the proposal and vote on the proposal. I will never be asked, "What category do you think is next?"

I will say, I think you will start to see more categories honoring music from other continents. You saw it with the Best African Performance two years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see more things like that. And it's also difficult, because Best African Performance is a great first step, but we have to be honest and acknowledge that there's many different genres of music coming from the continent, and we're funneling them all into one category. The same thing happened with Latin music. The genre got so popular that we couldn't condense it into a couple categories. And so we created the Latin Grammys.

Left, Terry Lewis, Jimmy Jam and Mason Jr. on Capitol Hill in 2022; right, with Olivia Rodrigo in 2024 (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The Recording Academy; Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Is Mariah the first MusiCares honoree you've actually produced or worked with?

Good question. I doubt it. I have to go back and look…

I don't think you produced The Grateful Dead.

No, but I did work with Stevie Nicks, and Fleetwood Mac was honored [in 2018]. I worked with Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson. But as for Mariah, what a career, what a legacy. One of the singers of our generation.

Will you be in the band?

I will be onstage, but not in the band.

No keytar, nothing?

No, I'll leave that to Jimmy Jam.

Finally, we can’t wait to see what you and the producers have in store for the HITS 40th anniversary tribute. Thank you in advance.

It’ll be a big production number with all of your faces featured. It’s going to be huge.