Signing Up For the Recording Academy
If you ever have plans on signing up to become a member of the Recording Academy or the Grammy's one major component of your application is credits. The Recording Academy syncs all its information from allmusic.com. However, this only applies if you're wanting to apply for a Voting Membership.
I'm personally planning on applying for a voting membership. Although, one thing I had not anticipated was proving my contributions in the music industry and not knowing the criteria. Now that I do, as a engineer/producer, either I or my clients must submit albums to be logged on allmusic.com. This is where properly crediting each individual's contributions to the album is critical. So when planning out your album credits make sure you credit the engineer, mixing engineer, producer, composers, lyricist, etc. with each credit owed to them. This is crucial.
The Grammy's have now included digital distribution into it's criteria. So no need to worry if you aren't planning on traditional means of distribution such as physical albums or CD's. Below is the criteria for digital releases. For more information visit Grammy.org.
Recordings Released Online Only:
Must have 12 qualifying digital tracks or equivalent duration of content;*
One qualifying track must have been released within five years of receipt of application;
Releases must be currently available for purchase through recognized online music retailers or recognized online music streaming services, defined as paid, full catalogue, audio-only, on-demand streaming and/or limited download subscription services, at the time of submission to The Academy; and
Recordings must be accompanied by verifiable documentation, e.g. liner notes, Allmusic.com.
To submit your music to allmusic.com the process seems relatively simple. It looks as if it takes a few minutes to submit the proper documentation and is not a clear on a timeline of verification. However, this is a crucial step in legitimizing your career as musicians! Follow these steps below found at allmusic.com/product-submissions.
How can I have my CD, DVD, or game added to the TiVo database?
You can mail TiVo one copy of the product along with any relevant promotional materials, such as artist bios and press releases, and email a single message containing artist and release images (in JPEG format and at least 300 pixels wide) and other promotional materials using the addresses below. TiVo adds products and other materials to their databases at their discretion. By submitting products and other materials to TiVo, you acknowledge and agree that those products and materials will not be returned to you, will become the property of TiVo upon receipt and may be used by TiVo at its discretion. All products and materials should be sent to:
By Mail:
Product Submissions TiVo Corporation 100 Phoenix Drive, Suite 201 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2202
By Email:
For music content.music@tivo.com
For movies and television content.movies@tivo.com
For video games content.games@tivo.com
For books content.books@tivo.com
Submitting your work to allmusic.com seems to be relatively simple and takes very little time and I hope this helps you when moving forward in your music career. From experience, seeing some of my credits show up when searching my name is pretty cool and exciting and I'm looking forward to more!