Recording Academy to Hire Diversity Officer, Establish Fund for Women in Music

The Recording Academy says an investigation of ousted CEO Deborah Dugan’s claims of sexual harassment is underway, among other measures to address the firestorm of controversy that has emerged around the organization in recent weeks, according to a pair of memos from Board of Trustees head Harvey Mason Jr. The memos were distributed Thursday to elected leaders and leaked to members of the media, including Variety.

The Recording Academy says an investigation of ousted CEO Deborah Dugan’s claims of sexual harassment is underway, among other measures to address the firestorm of controversy that has emerged around the organization in recent weeks, according to a pair of memos from Board of Trustees head Harvey Mason Jr. The memos were distributed Thursday to elected leaders and leaked to members of the media, including Variety.

While the media and industry have been focused on the turmoil at the Recording Academy sparked by the organization putting its President/CEO, Deborah Dugan, on administrative leave Jan. 16, academy staffers have been working toward meeting the recommendations made by the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.The Academy put the task force recommendations on its website Dec.

While the media and industry have been focused on the turmoil at the Recording Academy sparked by the organization putting its President/CEO, Deborah Dugan, on administrative leave on Jan. 16, academy staffers have been working toward meeting the recommendations made by the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.The Academy put the task force recommendations on its website on Dec.

Did you know only 2% of popular music is produced by women? The disconcerting statistic from a 2019 Annenberg Initiative study is the focus of a powerful new video from the Recording Academy and She Is the Music, in conjunction with the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, and it's premiering exclusively on Billboard above.

In response to ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s request last week to be released from the arbitration agreement she signed when she took the job, the Academy has agreed to have the dispute heard publicly — however, that agreement is not as liberating as it at first sounds.

It’s been one week since the Grammy Awards, and for many people it’s taken a week even to begin to process all the things that happened in the deranged ten days leading up to the show, let alone try to figure out where things currently stand.

Dugan was placed on administrative leave earlier this month

The 2020 Grammy Awards are over, but the turmoil between the Recording Academy and its embattled president/CEO, Deborah Dugan, rages on. And Dugan wants it to happen in plain sight. In a letter sent to the academy's executive committee of the board Wednesday (Jan. 29), Dugan asks to be rele

Fresh off his win at the2020 GRAMMY Awards, DJ Khaled shared his reaction to Sean «Diddy» Combs calling out the Recording Academy’s lack of diversity. 

Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs took aim at the beleaguered Recording Academy bosses for their treatment of hip-hop acts as he accepted one of the organisation’s top prizes on Saturday (25Jan20).

Diddy was recognized with the 2020 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Award during the Recording Academy and Clive Davis’ annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala on Saturday. 

The Recording Academy Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion, which issued a blistering statement Friday criticizing the Academy for failing to act on the recommendations put forward in its report last month, on Sunday morning issued a statement saying that it will “continue to work with the leadership at the Academy to urgently enact reforms that will last, including those outlined this morning by Board Chair Harvey Mason, Jr., which are a first step toward this renewed effort.”

The morning after Sean “Diddy” Combs admonished the Recording Academy to “get this shit together” at Saturday night’s (Jan. 25) Clive Davis and Recording Academy’s Pre-Grammy Gala, the 25,000 members of the organization woke to a missive from interim CEO and board chair Harvey Mason Jr.

By Bruce Haring

WhenSean “Diddy” Combsaccepted the Salute to Industry Icons Award at the Clive Davis and Recording Academy’s Pre-Grammy Gala Saturday evening, he brought the elephant in the room — the broiling controversy surrounding the Academy — front and center.

Sean “Diddy” Combs slammed the Recording Academy before a star-studded crowd at the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala on Saturday night, saying that hip-hop and black music have “never been respected by the Grammys,” ironically as he accepted his award as the 2020 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honoree at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.

On the eve of music’s biggest night -- the 62nd Grammy Awards -- the most compelling drama may be unfolding offstage as the Recording Academy’s new CEO, Deborah Dugan, now on leave, squares off with the organization’s old guard in a verbal battle royale -- complete with high-powered lawyers -- featuring.

In the wake of the bombshell allegations included in the legal complaint from ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan — which includes allegations of sexual misconduct among many other improper practices — there’s more than a little sense of “Wasn’t all this supposed to be fixed two years ago?” After former Grammy chief Neil Portnow’s ill-spoken 2018 comment to a Variety reporter that female musicians and executives need to “step up” in order to advance in the industry, the Academy launched a

Mickey Smith Jr. of Maplewood Middle School in Sulphur, La.