Latin Grammy voters can now vote for the general Grammys. Will it make a difference?

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This is a first for the Grammy Awards: members who typically vote for the Latin Grammys have been invited to become part of the Recording Academy for the 2025 membership year. The big question now is whether this will help popular Latin artists get recognized in the main Grammy categories.

The Recording Academy recently made a push to include more diverse voices in its voting membership, and the results are clear. The new class of over 3,800 music professionals and creators for 2025 is remarkably diverse: half are 39 or younger, 58% are people of color, and 35% identify as women.

According to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., this year’s nominees showcase the exciting diversity of modern music. He also highlighted that the inclusion of more voters from the Latin Recording Academy demonstrates that music transcends borders and the Academy is committed to supporting musicians worldwide.

The latest data from 2025 shows that almost a third (28%) of new members identify as Hispanic or Latino. This is a considerable increase from the 11% of new members who identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2024.

This invitation marks a significant milestone for the Latin Recording Academy. Founded in 1997 as part of the Recording Academy, it was created to celebrate the rising global popularity of Latin music – a trend that has continued to grow faster than mainstream music even today.

The Latin Recording Academy launched the Latin Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 2000, recognizing Latin music with 40 categories – a significant increase from the just seven categories available from the Recording Academy at the time. Today, as the awards celebrate their 26th anniversary on November 13th in Las Vegas, there are now 60 categories.

Creating a separate voting category sparked debate. While some worried it would isolate Latin music from the broader Recording Academy, others questioned whether grouping all Latin genres together was fair. Specifically, many pointed out that popular Mexican regional music often went unrecognized, despite being the best-selling Latin genre in the US.

According to Petra Rivera-Rideau, a professor at Wellesley College, the Latin Grammys were initially created as a response to the regular Grammy Awards’ lack of recognition for diverse Latin music genres. However, she notes that the Latin Grammys have also faced criticism for excluding popular genres like reggaeton and música Mexicana, which are currently leading the growth of Latin music.

This fall, Rivera-Rideau spoke out against the Latin Grammys, pointing out that Tainy and MAG – frequent collaborators with Bad Bunny – weren’t nominated for Producer of the Year. This seemed especially notable given that Bad Bunny received the most nominations overall this year for his highly praised album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”

Rivera-Rideau also pointed out that Fuerza Régida’s successful album, “111xpantia,” which reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart, wasn’t nominated for any Latin Grammys.

Streaming numbers show Latin music is the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., and a recent report from Luminate, a data analysis firm, indicates that regional Mexican music is a major driver of this growth.

Rivera-Rideau, who wrote ‘Remixing Reggaetón’ and is co-authoring a book about Bad Bunny, questioned whether simply involving more people in the Grammy voting process would significantly change the winners.

It will be interesting to see which Latin artists the Recording Academy actually honors in the future, she notes. “If awards were based solely on popularity, the most-listened-to genres like música Mexicana or reggaeton would dominate. However, the Latin Grammys have historically recognized a wider range of artists and sounds.”

Jennifer Mota, a journalist, scholar, and former voting member of the Recording Academy, thinks that making an effort to include more diverse and authentic voices could change how we define musical quality.

Mota, a member of the 2022 class, explains that traditionally, musical quality has been judged based on European standards. But she notes that this is changing, with those who decide what’s considered ‘good’ music beginning to shift their perspectives and the forces shaping those decisions are also evolving.

According to Mota, it’s possible for two different ideas to be true simultaneously. Since 2020, she’s been encouraging the Latin music industry to stop using the word “urbano” to describe genres like reggaeton, Latin trap, and dembow, because the term has historically excluded and separated artists.

Mota recalls that conversations about race and being Afro-Caribbean were difficult a decade ago. It was a new topic, and many people struggled with the idea that someone of Latino descent could also hold prejudiced beliefs. At the time, industry professionals were resistant to acknowledging this. However, Mota notes that she’s now seeing more willingness to address these issues and make positive changes.

“This is a moment to celebrate,” Mota explains, “but it’s also a reminder that there’s still progress to be made, both within the Latin Grammys and throughout the broader Latin community.”

You can find out who’s nominated for the 2026 Grammy Awards on Friday at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. The nominations will be announced in a livestream on live.grammy.com and YouTube, and a complete list will be available right after on Grammy.com.

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2025-11-05 01:03