The Recording Academy is more than the Grammys.
Koreaboo
Recently, news that several HYBE idols were invited to become members of The Recording Academy was released.
On July 9, the Recording Academy revealed that 3,600 artists had been invited to join the organization. Some artists included were HYBE stars, including TXT‘s Yeonjun, ENHYPEN‘s Jungwon, SEVENTEEN‘s Woozi and Vernon, LE SSERAFIM‘s Yunjin, and KATSEYE. Zico, whose company KOZ Entertainment is a subsidiary under HYBE, and known HYBE producers Slow Rabbit and Supreme Boi are also included.
🎉 Your favorite artists are officially part of the Recording Academy.
Nearly 3,600 music creators — including artists, songwriters, producers, composers, and engineers — have joined the 2025 New Member Class.↪️ This year’s class is 49% women, 56% People of Color, and 60%… pic.twitter.com/Yk9oqdR2AF
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) July 9, 2025
Some accused HYBE of “payola” in order to get its idols invited, but what does joining the Recording Academy really mean?
The Recording Academy is a professional organization of musicians, producers, songwriters, and other music professionals dedicated to recognizing, celebrating, and advocating for the music community and is known for putting on the Grammy Awards. It helps promote music education as well through the Grammy Museums.
The organization stands for musicians in multiple ways including through advocating for musician’s rights, and through its charity, MusiCares. MusiCares provides support for musicians in times of need, be it financially or health wise.
However, its most known duty is serving as the voting committee for the Grammys, with two rounds of voting taking place. After initial submissions from companies are screened, qualified members are able to vote for for which artists will be nominees and then for the actual winners.
Some have expressed beliefs that HYBE’s new place in the Recording Academy with these artists was done in order to help a group, specifically BTS, secure a Grammy.
However, with the thousands of members (usually around 13,000) that vote on each category, the less than 20 additional votes would not necessarily make a huge impact and skew voting. BTS, if nominated, would not be able to vote for themselves either as members of the Recording Academy, which they have been since 2019.
In all honesty, the addition of multiple people of color and women to an organization helps increase its diversity, which helps the industry overall.
