For Immediate Release: November 15, 2007
DBEDT Release News 07-30

HONOLULU--The process for selecting the Best Hawaiian Music album for the 2008 GRAMMY Awards has begun. While the deadline to submit albums for GRAMMY consideration has passed, the opportunity is still there to join The Recording Academy as a voting member and vote on the five nominees for Best Hawaiian Music Album of the Year.

New members must join The Recording Academy by December 1, 2007 in order to receive the final ballot and the deadline to submit the final ballot is January 9, 2008.

Final nominees for the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be announced on December 7, and the award ceremony will be held on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Currently, there are 150 active members of The Recording Academy living in Hawaii. There are 18,000+ active members nationwide.

"I have been encouraged to see how the number of entries for the Best Hawaiian Music Album category has grown over the past few years. I hope that more Hawaiian musicians will join the Academy, submit their work for future consideration, and take an active part in the voting process", said Ben London, Executive Director of The Recording Academy Pacific Northwest Chapter.

"Hawaii's creative industries, especially the music industry in particular, are at a great advantage with the current support from DBEDT, the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts (HARA) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). Organizations such as HARA and NARAS provide Hawaii's musicians an opportunity to grow in their craft especially in light of workshops and promotions that are offered throughout the year. Hawaii's music has reached around the world and has an important role to play in the universal language of music," said Georja Skinner, DBEDT's Chief Officer for Creative Industries Division.

"HARA is celebrating its 30th year in honoring Hawaii's recording arts. We acknowledge the difficulty in maintaining "active" membership, and we encourage our recording artists and industry professionals to remain active in both organizations, HARA and NARAS. Your creativity needs to be recognized beyond our Hawaiian shores," said Hailama Farden, President of HARA.

Music professionals interested in joining The Recording Academy can do so by contacting the Pacific Northwest Chapter Office at 206-834-1000 or at pacificnw@grammy.com. More information is also available on their website at www.grammy.com.

Cost
$100 per year

Voting Eligibility Requirements
Professionals with creative or technical credits on six commercially released tracks (or their equivalent) are eligible for membership in The Recording Academy. These may include vocalists, conductors, arrangers, and other fields directly related to the creative or technical process of producing recordings.

New Digital Voting Eligibility Requirements
In an effort to recognize music professionals who opt to distribute music online, The Recording Academy, with the support of its Board of Trustees, has augmented its membership qualifications. These new guidelines embrace recording professionals who release their product digitally and who wish to become Voting members and participate in the GRAMMY Awards process.

The new digital qualification process gives prospective members two ways to apply for voting membership consideration:

Option 1: Digital Distribution

1. Applicant must be credited on a minimum of 12 tracks, consisting of one release or multiple releases or two full length releases.
2. Applicant must have a Web site promoting him/herself as an artist. Promotion could include upcoming releases, tour schedule and other non-defined criteria establishing the fact the artist is supporting his/her craft through promotion. (This does not apply to non-performance categories such as engineer, producer, songwriter, art direction, notes writer, etc.).
3. Album must be available for sale to the general public in an established online retail setting. Examples: Amazon.com, CD Baby, iTunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo, Emusic, Musicmatch, CD Universe, etc.
4. Any other pertinent information that may establish the applicant as pursuing a career in the business of recorded sound.

Option 2: Member Endorsement

Applicant may be endorsed by two current Voting members of The Academy. Specific forms and criteria for this avenue of membership will be available on GRAMMY.com by clicking "The Recording Academy" button and then clicking the "Join Us" button.

The Academy is in the process of updating its Web site and applications to reflect this new membership criterion. In the interim, please use the current application. If applying with the PDF application, please include a printed copy of the Web page showing where the album is sold, along with the liner notes of the album. Also include the Web address of your Web site or myspace.com page.

For more information, contact:
Dave Young
Communications
Phone: (808) 587-1212
Email: dyoung@dbedt.hawaii.gov