• Faylita Hicks teams up with Torch Literary Arts to share how to submit a spoken word album for Grammy consideration.
• Why be a member of the Recording Academy.
• How to create a Grammy-eligible spoken word album.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending, “Spoken Word and The Recording Academy With Faylita Hicks,” hosted by Torch Literary Arts. 

The Grammy’s have offered an award in Spoken Word since 1959! To be sure, it was not necessarily the “spoken word” we think of when we hear the phrase now. These were primarily dramatic recordings of plays, speeches, documentaries, and some poems. In fact, we learn that it isn’t until 1993 that Maya Angelou wins the Grammy for her collection of poems, On The Pulse of Morning.

Now, in 2022, for the first time since 1959, a Grammy will be awarded for The Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, with or without music. Submitting your album for consideration is attainable.

In this intimate workshop, spoken word artist and Recording Academy member Faylita Hicks shared how to make ‘your’ spoken word into a Grammy-eligible album: She explained the basics of how to assemble your content, resources for distribution, creating simple yet effective websites, personal branding and professionalism as well as how to become a voting member of The Recording Academy.

Why be a member of the Recording Academy?

The very first thing one needs to know about winning a Grammy is that to be considered for a Grammy, your album has to be submitted via the OEP (Online Entry Process) by a Recording Academy member or Media Company. This is why you will want to be a member or know folks who are members.

If making your Grammy-winning album now sounds impossible, know that establishing your brand and the process of creating your Grammy-eligible album will put you on a path to meeting the right folks.

The Basics (for creating a Grammy-eligible spoken word album):*

1. Record your spoken word. This can be audio stripped from a live event (Note: You will want to make sure that your album is properly engineered and mastered before you submit).
2. Get a simple website for your online headquarters.
3. Get 15 to 20 minutes of your best work (again, this is high-quality audio), and make an album. I’m going to add here that you should set your tracks up to tell a story. It doesn’t have to be obvious, just an intentional sequence.
4. Sign up for a steaming host, such as Distrokid, and upload your album (before August 31, 2023).
5. Link your streams to your site.
6. Take your show on the road. Go to mics in the region. Create your own mics with other artists (The point is to build an audience).
7. Link your mics to your site. Tell people about it. Invite people to your work. Invite people to your world.
8. Be kind and professional. Faylita told the story of a guy on the street wanting to sell her a CD of his music; when she asked where he was streaming online so that she could give his album a listen, he was extremely rude — Imagine blowing off a Recording Academy member because you’re not prepared! This guy’s vision was simply to sell a CD, but perhaps…he could have been nominated for a Grammy.
9. Meet industry professionals and request to have your album nominated. They want to help you, and as Faylita told us, these industry folks are everywhere! In the anecdote above, the guy selling his CDs on the street walks right up to one! Maybe instead of selling CDs, he should be saying, “Are you a member of the Recording Academy? Please go to Spotify/iTunes/Audible and listen to my album.”

*This list is a summary of how I understand the process as a ‘from scratch’ newbee.

Torch Literary Arts is a non-profit organization headquartered in Austin, Texas that supports and publishes creative writing by Black women. This spoken word Grammy workshop with the awesome Faylita Hicks was a very unique approach to supporting Black women writers by TORCH that I, standing, loudly applaud.

Resources:

• 65th Grammy Awards Rules And Guidelines (past): https://naras.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/RulesAndGuidelines_2022
• Recording Academy Membership: https://members.recordingacademy.com/s/?language=en_US
• Grammy101.com: https://www.recordingacademy.com/awards/faq