In a Recording Academy town hall meeting via Zoom on Monday (March 1), chair and interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. gave an update on the organization’s continued CEO search, among other topics. Mason has been the interim president/CEO since January 2020, when Deborah Dugan – who assumed that role in August 2019 — was pushed out.

“The current search is ongoing,” he said in response to a member question. “We hired a search committee… They formed a job description. It went out to the marketplace. We’ve been speaking to over 100 candidates or potential candidates and then they narrowed it down to a few and we’ve done some interviews. It’s ongoing. It will continue to go on for the next two to three months. Our goal is to have a new CEO in place sometime around May, hopefully.”

Mason pointed out that it was a desire to bring transformative change to the academy that motivated him to run for chair of the board of trustees in the first place. It was clear he was talking about making the academy staff and membership more diverse.

“In these last 12 months we have brought an enormous amount of change forward,” he said. “In April, we brought on Valeisha Butterfield Jones as chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. In July, we formed a partnership with Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. In December, the partnership released the Change Music Road-map, a guide to moving the music industry beyond conversation and intention toward actionable racial justice.”

In one of his most pointed comments, he called the Change Music Road-map “a guide to correcting the undervaluation of the contributions of Black music people to the world.”

Mason also pointed with pride to the 2020 new membership class, which he called the “the most diverse ever,” noting it is “over 48% female, 37% Black/indigenous/people of color, 51% under age 40.”

He said a key to that diversity has been aggressive outreach. “The academy has suffered in the past in specific genres because [people in those genres] don’t feel like they were equally represented or they were reflected properly, whether that’s in the awards, or on the television show, so we’re going into those areas saying ‘We need your help. Otherwise, we’re not going to get the representation and recognition that your genre is looking for.’

“We’re going into those communities, making sure that we’re listening, paying attention to what they’re asking for, paying attention to what their grievances have been in the past, trying to correct those things and trying to invite new people to the table to join and be part of the process. That’s the first step.”

Mason also shed some light on what he calls the second step of making the academy membership more reflective of the broad music community — a long-rumored but heretofore little-explained process of “requalification” for existing members. Membership in the Recording Academy until now has been essentially for life — assuming a member was willing to continue paying the annual dues of $100. But Mason explained that will be changing.

“We are starting a requalification process. If you made a lot of music 25 years ago, you may not be the most aware or most reflective voter for us at this point. So you’re going to be requalifying. [We’re going to] make sure you have updated credits, make sure you’re still creating music so you can continue to vote.

“So it will be a combination of bringing in new members and more representative members and slowly requalifying people [who] have been voting for quite some time. [These two steps] will start to change the make-up of our membership. It will affect the way we do everything.”

Mason also pointed to the formation of the Black Music Collective, which now has multiple members in each of the academy’s 12 chapters. He said its mission is to “raise awareness, acknowledgment and acceptance and make sure Black music is reflected in everything the Academy is doing and across the industry.”

When an academy member asked Mason if there were plans to extend this to Latin music, with some kind of Latin Music Collective, Mason’s response was not as sure-footed as the rest of his presentation.

“To be determined,” he said. “I think at this point, we are just literally getting the Black Music Collective up and running. I can see us doing other collectives as well, if need be. It starts from the outreach and really listening and seeing what the different communities need…. All the different genres, groups, constituencies are important.”

In a lighthearted vein, Mason also made a prediction related to the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on March 14. “Two weeks from today, the morning after our show, I’m pretty sure someone is going to be unhappy. I can bet that some fans are going to be emailing me or tweeting me or asking why I didn’t give the darn Grammy to their artist. Unfortunately, I can guarantee this is going to happen.

“When you’re trying to judge an award or anything that’s subjective like art, it’s always difficult. There’s always going to be one person who’s happy and a lot of people are going to be upset. It’s always been that way for 63 consecutive Grammy shows.”

Mason summed up the 45-minute town hall with his hopes for the academy’s future.

“I want to make sure our membership is even more diverse and inclusive than it is now. I want to make sure that the [award] outcomes are more equitable than they ever have been and I want to make sure that the academy is trusted and respected more than it [has] ever been. There have been times that we’ve been accused of things, or we’ve had people bring things up as far as nominations or they’re upset about one thing or another, so it’s real important to me and I think to everyone at the academy that we continue to communicate, have outreach to different people…We can continue to evolve and transform the academy.”

 

Spring is just around the corner, and Rihanna is making sure that her fans are dripping in florals (and Savage X Fenty) for the season.

The star took to social media on Sunday (Feb. 28) to share a smoldering photo lounging in a garden chair, fittingly dressed in a retro-tinged orange, turquoise and green set from her popular lingerie line’s spring collection.

“savage af. don’t trip,” Bad Gal RiRi simply captioned the snap.

The new collection, which features springtime florals, comfy mesh, cotton essentials, robes, gloves and even pasties are now available on Savage X Fenty’s website here.

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

A lawyer is seeking an investigation of T.I. (real name Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.) and Tiny (Tameka Dianne Harris), who have been accused of sexual abuse and assault.

The New York Times reported on Sunday (Feb. 28) that the lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, has approached law enforcement authorities in Georgia and California on behalf of 11 people claiming they were victimized by the couple or their entourage.

The alleged incidents span 2005 to 2018, and were described as instances of “sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment,” as well as nonsexual intimidation, assault and harassment, said Blackburn, who told the Times he sent letters to the offices of the U.S. Attorneys for the Northern District of Georgia and the Central District of California, the Los Angeles County District Attorney and the state attorneys general of California and Georgia.

Steve Sadow, counsel for T.I. and Tiny, provided the following statement to Billboard on their behalf: “Clifford (T.I.) and Tameka Harris deny in the strongest possible terms these unsubstantiated and baseless allegations. We are confident that if these claims are thoroughly and fairly investigated, no charges will be forthcoming. These allegations are nothing more than the continuation of a sordid shakedown campaign that began on social media. The Harrises implore everyone not to be taken in by these obvious attempts to manipulate the press and misuse the justice system.”

Most of the accusers have thus far remained anonymous “in fear for their lives and safety,” according to Blackburn, but include a military veteran, a former friend who became an assistant, an exotic dancer and a teenage intern at Grand Hustle, T.I.’s studio and record label.

In interviews with the Times, who spoke with five of the accusers, T.I. and Tiny were “portrayed as aggressors who deployed drugs, alcohol, money and their celebrity status to prey on and entrap women for sexual abuse, and then threatened violence against anyone who might speak out,” the publication said. (Read the Times’ full report here.)

Previously, on Jan. 26, Sabrina Peterson had accused T.I. on Instagram of putting a gun to her head, and also posted on Instagram Stories dozens of accusations from other women who claimed T.I. and Tiny force-fed them drugs and then had sex with them.

On Jan. 29, a spokesperson for T.I. and Tiny released a statement in response to the allegations posted by Peterson: “Mr. and Mrs. Harris want to be on record and more importantly want the public to know they emphatically deny in the strongest way possible the egregiously appalling allegations being made against them by Sabrina Peterson. The Harrises have had difficulty with this woman for well over a decade. They are taking this matter very seriously, and if these allegations don’t end, they will take appropriate legal action.”

In February, VH1’s T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle suspended production following the initial accusations against T.I. and Tiny.

“We are aware of the allegations, and while they are not connected to our show, we have reached out to T.I. and Tameka Harris, as well as local and state officials,” an MTV Entertainment spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard. “Given the serious nature of the allegations, we have decided to suspend production in order to gather more information.”

If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault, reach out to RAINN. The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste won best score – motion picture at Sunday’s (Feb. 28) Golden Globe Awards for their collaborative work on Pixar’s Soul.

“We must follow our dreams because we only have one life to live and one soul,” Batiste said in his acceptance speech. “And this soul is happy today to be recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press for this masterpiece of a film.”

Nine Inch Nails frontman Reznor quipped in his speech: “I think this is the first piece of art I’ve ever made in my life that I can show my kids, so thanks, Pixar.” Ross wrapped up the speeches by simply thanking his wife and kids.

The odds were in Reznor and Ross’ favor on Sunday night, since they were also nominated for their work on Netflix’s Mank — making them the first composing team in Golden Globes history with two scores in that category in the same year. The duo earned their fourth and fifth Globes nominations, respectively, this year, while this was Batiste’s first. All three composers also share an entry on the Academy Awards’ list of eligible scores.

In addition to topping the Mank score, Soul was also up against The Midnight Sky (Alexandre Desplat), News of the World (James Newton Howard) and Tenet (Ludwig Göransson).