Electronic Music at the Grammys

This year during the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony, electronic music was more present than ever with Skrillex winning Best Dance/Electronic Music Album, Best Dance Recording, and Best Remixed Recording, along with Deadmau5 performing with the Foo Fighters. Its rise in popularity is mostly attributed to Jason Bentley who was part of a group which lobbied the Recording Academy to include the "Best Dance/Electronic Music Album" category and also joined the Los Angeles Chapter of NARAS in the early 2000s. He is now the Music Director at the Santa Monica based KCRW radio station as of 2008 and hosts "Morning Becomes Eclectic" after Nic Harcourt decided to step down. Jason Bentley previously hosted "Metropolis" on KCRW for 16 years which included interviews with Daft Punk, Sasha, Boys Noize, Paul Oakenfold, Freddy Be, Junkie XL, Paul Van Dyk, The Crystal Method, James Lavelle, Grabriel & Dresden, Hybrid, BT, Felix Da Housecat, Adam Freeland, Doc Martin, DJ Shadow, Photek, and John Digweed just to name a few. You can hear past shows of Metropolis here. He also hosted "Afterhours" on KROQ-FM and began at KXLU. Here are some older mix tapes of his beginnings in 1992.

The Grammys started in 1959 and an award is obtained through qualifying professional musicians who choose the winners. They are encouraged to vote within their fields of expertise and are required to vote based upon quality alone with no influence of sales, chart performance, personal friendships, regional preferences, company loyalty while any acceptance of gifts are prohibited. All of the rules for qualification can be read here.

The Recording Academy also has a host of other subdivisions such as Grammy University which helps prepare college students for their careers in the music industry through networking, educational programs and performance opportunities, MusiCares which covers a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, and each case is treated with integrity and confidentiality while also focusing the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly impact the health and welfare of the music community, and the Grammy Foundation which cultivates the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture. Read more about The Recording Academy here.