In an effort to stay in tune with an ever-evolving musical landscape, the Latin Recording Academy announced two new categories: Best Contemporary Mexican Music album and Best Latin Electronic Music.
After the criticism that arose in 2023 for a lack of representation for local Mexican artists, especially in the top four categories, the Latin Academy is now paving a way for better recognition of the Mexican music scene. The newly introduced category of best contemporary Mexican music albums will emphasize Spanish vocal or instrumental albums, which require at least 51% new material, while maintaining at least 60% of the essence of Mexican musical genres.
At the same time, the Latin Recording Academy embraces a new field of electronic music, introducing the category for the best Latin electronic music act. Eligible songs, whether vocal or instrumental, containing at least 51% Latin electronic music playtime, including remixes.
In addition to these new categories, several modifications have also been made to existing categories. These include a name change for the MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) / MAPB (Música Afro Portuguesa-Brasileira) best album category (adding the second acronym) in the Portuguese language field. and a definition amendment for the Best Singer-Songwriter category in the singer-songwriter category (for songs containing at least 60% of the lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese or any local regional dialect; previously this figure was 51%) .
There are also new eligibility criteria for the best long-form music video category in the music video category. “Eligible videos in the Best Long Form Music category are at least 12 minutes long (reduced from 20 minutes),” the press release notes.
These updates are effective immediately and will be reflected at the upcoming 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in November. For more information visit the Latin Grammy website.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/latin-grammys-new-categories-regional-mexican-electronic-music-1235642648/
