For the first time ever, the Recording Academy has revealed its entire rule book for the GRAMMY Awards online in an effort to be more transparent.
New rules/guidelines for the 63rd annual awards include dropping the outdated term “Urban” from applicable categories, no specified maximum number of releases for the Best New Artist category, updated review committee requirements and standards, and more.
As Billboard points out, there are some rather interesting and unexpected GRAMMY rules/guidelines (not new, but new to us) — and here are just a few: 
Definition of an “album” — To qualify as an album, a release must contain at least five tracks (different songs, not different mixes) and have a total playing time of at least 15 minutes or it may have any number of tracks if the total playing time is at least 30 minutes.
Categories must never drop below 25 entries — Each category shall have at least 40 distinct artist entries. If a category receives between 25 and 39 entries, only three recordings will receive nominations in that year. Should there be fewer than 25 entries in a category, that category will immediately go on hiatus for the current year—no award given—and entries will be screened into the next most logical category.
New categories are rarely added — Any proposals to create a new category requires a 2/3 supermajority vote of both the awards & nominations committee and the board of trustees to pass.
No trash talking the competition — FYC communications cannot cast a negative or derogatory light on a competing recording. Any tactic that singles out the competition by name or title is not allowed.
View the entire 66-page 63rd GRAMMY Awards Rules & Guidelines here.
Source: Billboard | Photo via FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
