How to win a Grammy (2025)
Why bother submitting music for Grammy consideration as an independent musician?
The Grammys have a bit of a mixed reputation among independent musicians. Some view the entire concept of “gold stars for music” as missing the point of making art in the first place, while others enjoy the awards ceremony and all the pomp and circumstance surrounding it. Both views are legitimate.
While none of us professionals make music solely to win awards, it’s also true that the Grammy awards process really is peer-reviewed and professionally audited to ensure fairness, and it’s still a legitimate feather in your cap, even today.
It would be difficult to argue that a Grammy nomination or win would be a bad thing for your artistic career.
I wouldn’t write music with the explicit aim to win a Grammy award. But, it also doesn’t hurt to understand the awards process and history more fully, and to know how to submit work for consideration as your career develops.
Just make artwork that’s honest to you, put it out there in a professional manner, and if you happen to win an award for it, accept graciously.
Here’s the basics of how the GRAMMY submission and awards process works, as of the 2025 submission season.
Eligibility period
To be eligible for the 68th annual Grammy awards, the recording submitted must be released between August 31th, 2024 and August 30th, 2025.
What type of music is eligible for consideration?
In addition to being released during the eligibility period, there are three other requirements for music to be considered for a Grammy:
Length
• To be considered for album submission, a recording must contain at least five different tracks with a total playing time of 15 minutes, or a total playing time of 30 minutes with no minimum track amount.
• Singles have no such requirements.
Format
• A submitted recording must be available for sale either in physical "brick and mortar" stores or online via digital download, or via a recognized streaming platform.
• A recording must meet the industry minimum standard 16-bit, 44.1 kHz sample rates.
• Each submitted song must have proper metadata credits (songwriters, producers, etc.) and International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs) for each track.
Use of Original Material
• An album must contain greater than 75 percent newly recorded (within five years of the release date) material, that has not been released prior.
There are some new award categories added for consideration this year, including Best Album Cover. The former Best Country Music Album award has been split into two awards: Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album.
The Grammy Award submission deadline
Submit your released music to the Recording Academy’s Online Entry Process by August 29th, 2025.
How do I submit my music for award consideration?
The GRAMMYs are a peer-reviewed process, meaning only professional artist members and media company members of the Recording Academy can submit music for awards consideration or vote on awards.
Typically, to submit you would either need to know a Recording Academy member personally, or be signed to a label or other registered media company that could submit your music on your behalf.
Now’s a good time to talk amongst your music friends, to see if you know anyone who could submit your music for consideration, or to see if a label might be interested in submitting for you.
Typically, around 20,000 entries are submitted for awards consideration each year.
You’ll probably see a bunch of posts from any of your pro music friends who are on labels starting with things like “…for your consideration”, as the official Grammy submission deadline approaches. This doesn’t mean they’ve been nominated for a GRAMMY, it just means they’ve successfully submitted their music for consideration into the general pool.
What happens after my music is submitted?
After the submission deadline passes, voting takes place over two different rounds by Recording Academy members.
First Round Voting determines which submissions become GRAMMY nominated.
There are between 5-8 finalists chosen in each award category. This year, First Round Voting takes place between October 3-15, 2025. Nominations are announced on November 7, 2025.
Anytime you see an artist who’s been “GRAMMY nominated”, it means they’ve been selected as one of the 5-8 finalists in their category.
Final Round Voting determines GRAMMY Award winners.
Once the nominations have been announced, another round of voting by Academy members takes place to pick the winners from among the nominated entries. For the 2025 season, Final Round Voting takes place between December 12, 2025 and January 5, 2026.
What happens if I win?
The televised GRAMMY Awards are where the category winners are announced each year. It’s important to note that only the most popular and visible awards are widely publicized and make the television broadcast: categories like Album of the Year and such.
There’s many additional technical Grammys and awards in more obscure musical styles that don’t always make the televised portion of the awards ceremony, but are equally prestigious and difficult to achieve.
This coming awards season, the 68th GRAMMY Awards ceremony takes place on February 1, 2026.
