Lady Dentaa Amoateng, consultant to the Recording Academy’s CEO Harvey Mason Jr., has called for more Ghanaians to become members of the Grammy Recording Academy to strengthen the country’s chances at the prestigious awards.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM on 23rd September 2025, Dentaa said Ghana’s prospects at the Grammys would remain limited unless more Ghanaians joined the Academy.
“The process of the Grammy Awards is that you have to be a member of the Recording Academy to vote. It is not voted by Harvey Mason Jnr. It is voted by producers, musicians; people in that industry. So you have to be part of that. And it is in America. So people that are voting, they don’t know your music. So more of us [Ghanaians] have to join the membership to be able to vote,” she said.
When asked how one could join the Recording Academy, she said; “it’s easy. It’s on the website. It’s a very easy process. You actually need two references, someone to verify that you are who you are: one that is already a member of the Academy and one that is not, so they can recommend that you are a producer, you are a musician.”
When asked about non-Africans being eligible for the African Music Performance category, she said the best way to address that concern was to increase African participation within the Academy.
“That is why we need Africans to be able to vote. If you are on the Board, you have voting rights. There are meetings that they go through the process, so if there are more of us on that platform, then you won’t get non-Africans infusing in that category too much. So I think it is really important,.
Dentaa added that she would embark on a campaign to get more Ghanaians invited to join the Academy, which currently has over 16,000 members, including more than 13,000 voting members.
Voting members include recording artists, songwriters, composers, producers, engineers, mixers, mastering engineers, instrumentalists and arrangers. The Academy also has professional members such as artist managers, publicists, label executives, music publishers, agents, entertainment lawyers, business managers and live event producers. Another group, GRAMMY U, consists of university students studying music or related fields who aspire to work in the industry and gain mentorship opportunities.
Explore all the juicy entertainment news you desire with GhanaWeekend on WhatsApp!
Click on the link to join the GhanaWeekend channel for curated, meaningful stories tailored just for YOU: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaJ31iEDTkK8wIHNj31A
