Cliff Martinez got his start drumming with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the ’80s. After several years performing with the band, he resigned from the touring lifestyle and began a career writing music for television. Martinez landed his first gig composing for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and eventually shifted his focus towards film scoring. Today, he is one of the most sought-after composers and is known for his dreamy and atmospheric soundscapes. His many credits include popular films such as Traffic, Contagion, Drive and The Lincoln Lawyer.

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GRAMMY.com caught up with Martinez who walked us through his process of scoring his latest big-screen endeavor, Only God Forgives, on which he re-teamed with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn. He also shared his advice for up-and-coming composers and touched on his gear and co-writing process.

Can you walk us through the process of scoring Only God Forgives?
Well monogamy has its advantages. This is Nicolas and my second picture so there’s a certain degree of creative telepathy that goes on. Now I know what he likes and doesn’t like and have a very general notion of his approach of putting music to picture.

Nicolas is pretty unique in that he really depends on music. He likes music a lot. I had never written any nine-minute music sequences in a film until I did Drive. It’s a challenge I welcome.

This film is even more of a silent film than Drive and there were some really big challenges. There is a scene where a one-arm man is talking about who this cop is that took his arm and Nicolas sent that to me and I said, “Alright. Now you’ve gone too far. Now I see the guy’s lips moving and there is still no dialogue. What’s up with that?” He said, “Well, I just didn’t like the way it sounded. He kept calling him the angel of wengeance.” He said the foreign actor kept pronouncing it “the angel of wengeance” and it had a comic overtone that was inappropriate.

So I had to musically tell the story of the angel of vengeance without any words. You have to appreciate those things — seeing the film without the music. I like to think that music is very important in his films, more so than in other films.

When Nicolas says he’s going to direct a movie and wants you to score it, do you start generating ideas for the score before you see the picture?
In Drive, I was brought in at the five-week mark, which is when writing a film score is pretty down to the wire. So that was a different process. For this one, he knew he wanted to work with me so he brought me in at the script stage. It was very different in that we actually were able to spitball some ideas before he even shot anything.

I think Steven [Soderbergh] is the only other guy that brings me in that early — at the script stage before things have shot. Usually, everybody waits till the last second and says, “Who are we going to get to do the music? It’s going to be released in five weeks...” Until you actually see the picture and start to throw some stuff up against it, you really can’t write anything.

So we had some ideas. I had this idea that I really wanted to bring the setting of Thailand to the world with music. I went to Thailand and locked myself in a hotel room for five weeks and had my laptop set up and wrote it there. It was so intense that I had room service three times a day and never left the room. I did buy a couple of Thai folk instruments — a pin, which is like an electrified three-string lute. I didn’t really play it in the idiom of the Thai folk tradition but it didn’t stop me from trying so I did weave a little of the Thai influence in there.

How much did your ideas change once you saw the film come together?
I always have this plan and then once you get in the middle of it, all these specific ideas that you had get tossed out and you go with something else.

Nicolas had a very different approach. It was a bit of a controversial practice with temp scoring so really the director gets a lot of credit for designing the overall approach because their first edit of the film contains some music from a CD of some other composer to get the ball rolling and it dictates where they want the music placed: where it starts, where it stops and a general kind of direction or approach.

In this case, Nicolas used my favorite film score of all time, [Bernard Herrmann’s 1951 score for The Day The Earth Stood Still], so I kind of dropped the Thai thing. I heard that and thought, “If I could put those two together, that would be interesting,” so I was always trying to do that. I really tried the sci-fi ’50s thing but that didn’t work. There was a lot of trial and error.

In Drive, we went for first impulse, which usually works and it did. This time we had a lot of time to experiment and there is probably over two hours of music in a 50-minute score so there’s a lot of leftovers — a lot of aborted experiments.

When scoring a film, do you ever co-write or do you work on it exclusively?
I have a couple of guys that live in Topanga Canyon [Calif.], although we hardly ever see each other and I hardly ever see Nicolas — he’s in Copenhagen [Denmark]. I guess that’s the nature of collaboration in the digital world.

I have a couple of guys that work with me that are credited on the score. To me, the scope of doing a film score is you have to have a team of people to work with because you don’t just write the score. Writing 50 minutes of music is enough of a task but it ends up being like you have to write that 50 minutes three or four times so for me it’s just overwhelming for one human to do it.

What is that collaborative process like? Do you put down your basic ideas and then send them portions to take and work with a little bit?
I try to come up with a general [instrumentals]. I try to send out things I call themes, although I have a hard time using the word theme and keeping a straight face because a lot of my stuff is more of a recognizable sound than something you could whistle or sing.

In this film, I had my love theme, my death by sword theme... I try to establish these things and then hand it out to the minions and say, “OK, let’s make it work in this scene or another.” I’m very much attached to the idea of theme and variation, which is a purist classical approach. I try to do it that way. It gets scrambled along the way but I try and keep that purity. That makes it easy to hand off to somebody and say, “Here’s the love scene. Let’s try applying it to the film. Let’s try to make it work here.”

What was the biggest challenge you encountered when scoring the film?
The film had very little dialogue. Originally Nicolas sent me the script and it was with normal talking. Then he shot it and it was like, “What happened to all the talking? There is no talking now.” He said, “Well we decided to thin it out.” Fine by me. It gives me more to do. The viewers look to the music more. They’ll pay closer attention — what is he saying or thinking? It naturally puts more emphasis on the music, which I like.

Music is often thought of as an afterthought — what ketchup is to a cheap steak is what music often is. You do these transitions just to smooth out the cuts but Nicolas gives you a nice juicy part for the music.

What equipment do you use? How much is samples and how much is live instrumentation?
I have a pretty simple set up: a couple of hard drives, Kontakt instruments, Symphobia, Omnisphere was used. Zebra was the fight scene. It’s got this great real time control and Nicolas wanted something that was along those lines. I was stealing from Philip Glass but all that stuff is out of the box.

The love theme, the melodic line, was recorded with a real orchestra in Bronislava. All the other weird stuff was Symphobia and L.A. scoring strings so they are all sample libraries. They are all fake. Nicolas liked the orchestral idea so everything else is kind of fake.

If you were starting over as a composer today, would you focus more on scoring films or licensing music for television?
If I had my choice, I would say go with the feature films because to me licensed music is music detached from the picture. You create the music then you try to sell it and to me —because of where I come from — that’s less artistically satisfying than writing music to picture.

The first time I did “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” that was the first thing I ever did. I saw the previous season and when I got my first show in the second season, I thought they gave me the worst episode of the show ever. Then I started to write the music and the whole thing came together. I thought I was dragging a rocket ship. I thought I had just fixed it, but I realized throughout the course of that project, how powerful and how satisfying putting music to picture is.

So if you’re licensing stuff, you’re not doing it to picture and you’re missing all the fun. Whichever is more lucrative, I couldn’t say, but I would say whatever opportunities present yourself, I would go with it.

How did you transition from drumming for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to being a full-time composer?
I was with them from ’83 to ’86, back in my childhood. I made the jump because I thought I was playing a very small role here as an accompanist to three other people. Not that it was bad while I did it, but when I switched over to writing music, it was a whole new world of creativity and creative options opened up. I think there’s nothing more satisfying than writing music and if you are successful at it, it will be far more lucrative than session stuff. I think the money is in creating [music] not performing it, although bands like the Chili Peppers make billions by touring, but they’ve burned a few calories to get to that point.

I was just not cut out for that lifestyle. I’m a fragile little traveler — body functions and a number of things just don’t work as well when I’m going city to city. That’s another thing; I just did the touring thing. I was always in bands but never one with a record deal till the Chili Peppers and I finally got a whiff of the rock and roll lifestyle and I realized, “I’m not going to do this for the next 20 to 30 years. Travel is kind of cool — playing live is kind of nice but this is rough. This is like being married to four people!”

What type of musical training have you had?
It’s pretty sparse. I grew up as a rock and roll drummer and I wasn’t able to parlay any of those skills into film composing except that I can make music by hitting things with a stick so I would play pitch percussion but my training is pretty limited.

After I got into the business, [during] my periods of unemployment, which I actually had lots of them in 2009 and 2010, I would take music lessons. I would take piano lessons and a few guys around town teach composition.

But really I have big gigantic holes in my musical training in the formal sense. My cop-out for years was, “Well, if you want to be a different fish, you have to get out of the school.” I wanted to sound original and I didn’t want to learn the way Bach did “Counterpoint,” but that’s just being lazy. I do try to read about things but I’m basically a self-taught music Neanderthal.

Well, you’re influencing a lot of composers. There are going to be a lot of guys ripping you off.
Well, I’m ripping off a lot of people [laughs]. My philosophy is you steal one thing from one person, you’re a plagiarist. You steal two things and put it together, you’re a pioneer. Most of my stuff is Philip Glass meets Bernard Herrmann meets Thai pop music. You put those together and you can steal pretty blatantly, but if you combine them or come up with something wildly original…

Any last bits of advice for people looking to pursue a career in composing?
I’d like to think the key to success is to be yourself. To find a way to express your musical personality, to discover what your musical identity is and then express it proudly and develop what is you, what it is about that distinguishes you from everybody else. I feel that ultimately I would like to think that’s what makes you competitive and sought after.

Marvel At These 7 Facts About 'Black Panther: The Album' 

Few music festivals have had the cultural impact of Lollapalooza. 

Conceived in 1991 as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction by lead singer Perry Farrell, the festival quickly became a traveling showcase for alt-rock and counterculture. Its eclectic lineups, which also included punk, metal, and hip-hop acts, helped define a generation's musical tastes. 

A new, three-episode documentary, "Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza," takes an in-depth look at the festival's journey over three decades. From its early days of bringing together alt acts including Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Pearl Jam, and the Beastie Boys, Lollapalooza has evolved into what it is today: a three-day festival based in Chicago's Grant Park since 2005. The festival remains an enduring celebration of alternative music.

"Lolla" explores how Lollapalooza defied expectations by both embracing and helping shape the emerging youth culture of the '90s — a rebellious, introspective shift from the flashy excess of the '80s. The docuseries highlights the festival's influence through a trove of archival footage and exclusive interviews with Lollapalooza co-founders, show promoters, bookers, MTV hosts. Of course, "Lolla" features a who's who of '90s-era rockers — including Farrell himself, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Donita Sparks from L7, Ice-T. 

To watch "Lolla" is to open a time capsule for alternative culture, one where the stage becomes a symbol of generational change. Read on for five takeaways from the documentary, which is now streaming on Paramount+. 

The Reading Festival Served As Inspiration

For their farewell tour, Jane's Addiction decided to emulate the UK Reading Festival's approach to curating live music and alternative acts in a multi-day, open-air forum (where bands like the Buzzcocks and Pixies played to crowds of 40,000). 

Jane's Addiction had been scheduled to play the 1990 Reading Festival, but Farrell partied too much the night before after a club gig and lost his voice, and the band had to cancel. Drummer Stephen Perkins and future Lollapalooza co-founder Marc Geiger decided to check out the event anyway, which planted the seed for the future tour. 

"Reading was a cornucopia of artists, and scenes, and curation, and it was such a vibe," recalled Geiger in an interview scene from the doc. "I remember saying, 'Perry, we have to do it.'"

Farrell was game after missing his chance to see Reading first-hand. So Lollapalooza co-founders Geiger, Don Muller and Ted Gardner, who was also Jane's Addiction band manager, got to work emulating the Reading model. In addition to live music, Farrell wanted something "completely subversive" with booths to engage festival goers with everything from henna tattoos and art galleries, to nonprofit and political organizations like Greenpeace, PETA, the Surfrider Foundation, and even voter registration for the Rock The Vote campaign. The result was art and activism combined with commerce.

Lolla Was Born From The Death Of Jane's Addiction

Although Jane's Addiction had a big buzz with their third album, Ritual de lo Habitual, the band was on the edge of  dissolution. "We really couldn't stand each other," admitted Farrell. Ready for his next act, Farrell saw the opportunity to end on a high note with Jane's Addiction. "The best work we did, we left on the stage at Lolla," he said in the doc. 

In the early '90s, alternative acts were not selling out massive venues. Organizers were on edge, hoping fans would buy tickets and show up to not one, but 28 U.S. tour dates featuring the seven-act lineup for the first-ever Lollapalooza.

What nobody expected was the watershed success. The first show saw fans sweat it out to see their favorite acts in Phoenix, on a day with temperatures well over 100 degrees. Nine Inch Nails' equipment melted in the heat, leading the band to destroy their failing gear before walking off the stage. 

Despite initial hiccups, the tour wasn't hindered. Lollapalooza's first year sold out in a majority of venues holding 15-18,000 people, driven largely by word-of-mouth and favorable coverage by MTV.  

"I think everybody knew and ultimately felt, 'wow, I'm sort of lucky to be here — I'm part of something,'" recalled Geiger in the doc. "It was bigger than anything these artists or fans had seen at that time."

Lollapalooza '92 further mixed genres on the main stage — like gangsta rap (Ice Cube), grunge (Pearl Jam) and shoegaze (Lush) — while greatly expanding the line-up on a side stage upon which Farrell and Perkins introduced their new band Porno For Pyros, alongside many other acts. Lollapalooza's model was born. 

Early Years Embraced Racial Inclusivity, But Lagged Gender-Wise

Right from the start, Lollapalooza organizers mixed up the bill beyond white artists that traditionally headlined rock concerts long before and after Jimi Hendrix performed at Woodstock and Monterey Pop. Part of why Lollapalooza thrived is the inclusion of bands like Ice-T's Body Count, Fishbone, and Living Colour — favorite headliners during the early tours.

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello credited Living Colour with helping build "the alternative arc" and opening doors for Rage. "Without Living Colour, Rage Against The Machine doesn't get a record deal. Ever," Morello said. 

A big moment came near the end of the '91 tour when Ice-T and Farrell squared off to cover Sly and the Family Stone's "Don't Call Me ******, Whitey" in which they tersely trade verses, then end up tangoing across the stage. It was a provocative performance that grabbed headlines and the audience's attention months after the high profile police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. In '92, Soundgarden showed solidarity with Body Count by performing their controversial track "Cop Killer" with their guitarist Ernie C onstage in Miami. 

While Lolla embraced racial diversity, the early line-ups were male-dominated. Lone female act Siouxsie and the Banshees were a favorite in '91 and later Lollapalooza main stage artists, like Sonic Youth, Babes In Toyland, Lush, and the Breeders — which had more if not all female members — were outnumbered by their male counterparts.

Read more: 6 Female-Fronted Acts Reviving Rock: Wet Leg, Larkin Poe, Gretel Hänlyn & More

Donita Sparks noted that L7 got booked in '94 only after they fired off a bluntly worded fax to the organizers. "We got the offer," Sparks said, "but we had to push the issue. And we had to fight for it. 'Cause that's how much we wanted to be on Lollapalooza, and more importantly, that's how much we felt we deserved to be on Lollapalooza.

Female artists would eventually receive their Lolla dues, with Billie Eilish, Lorde, HAIM, Miley Cyrus and Karol G performing as festival headliners, and artists like Lady Gaga starting out as side stage artists before exploding in popularity and returning to headline the fest a few short years later. 

It Became A Victim Of Its Own Success

Lollapalooza from years '91 to '93 were the purest in terms of alt-rock acts, but as the event drew a wider range of talent and demand, it began to suffer a bit of an identity crisis. After all, it's hard to be a beacon for the underground scene once that culture is above ground.

By Lolla '94, attendance set records and alt-rock had hit the mainstream while grunge peaked and critics bemoaned its growing conventional status. Former second stage booker John Rubeli revealed that Nirvana turned down a $6 million offer to headline the '94 tour because of frontman Kurt Cobain's fear of selling out. Cobain's suicide a few short weeks later changed the scene. 

In '95, the festival returned with more indie bands on the mainstage, but some were eclipsed by bigger artists like Coolio, who drew a bigger crowd to the parking lot side stage. Increased popularity drove commercial sponsorship, and the event became more expensive. Ticket sales dropped. Then in '96, Farrell quit his involvement with the festival for a year in protest over the booking of Metallica, whose aggressive music and audience he felt were out of step with his vision.

"I felt disrespected," Farrell said. "I'm not putting this thing together to make the most money. I'm putting this thing together to make the most joy."

Upon his return in 1997, Farrell's inclusion of electronic acts like the Orbital and the Prodigy were, to some ears, ahead of the curve. The festival then went on a six-year hiatus. 

Lollapalooza returned on shaky legs for its 2003 tour, which included Audioslave, Incubus, the Donnas, and the reunion of Jane's Addiction. But it was truly reborn in 2005 as a three-day event in Chicago through concert promoters C3 Presents (who co-executive produced the "Lolla" doc).  Admittedly, some of the 21st century headliners like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Journey, and Paul McCartney would never have fit the '90s festival bill. 

Times have changed and, today, the festival has embraced its conventional success while retaining its original genre-spanning reach with the Killers, Melanie Martinez, Skrillex, and Tyler, the Creator included on this summer's lineup.

Lolla Was A Model For Coachella, Bonnaroo, And Beyond

Prior to the arrival of Lollapalooza, rock festivals were usually single weekend events that took place in a fixed location, like Woodstock in '69, Steve Wozniak's US Festival in '82 and '83, and European festivals like Reading. "I just think it's the first American, truly eclectic concert series since Woodstock," said Ice-T. "And even Woodstock wasn't as eclectic because Woodstock was pretty much all rock."

Lollapalooza's successful tour format inspired other popular tours and live events, especially in the mid-'90s. During the festival's break during the late '90s and early 00's, niche festivals like Ozzfest, Vans Warped Tour, and Lilith Fair stole the show. These festivals not only continued Lollapalooza's legacy by bringing diverse genres to cities across the country, but transformed the live music scene into a cultural phenomenon. 

While epic, genre-spanning weekend festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo have been raging since the early aughts, Lollapalooza first proved that a seemingly radical idea could grow and thrive. Incorporating a mix of rock, hip-hop, electronic, and alternative acts, inclusivity and mobility became a festival blueprint. Today, Lollapalooza is tapping into international audiences and local music scenes with versions of the festival in Argentina, Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, and even Mumbai. 

Lollapalooza's success proves that the media and music industry often don't realize the size and passion of certain scenes and subcultures until they're brought together in the right setting. By uniting diverse musical acts and their fans, Lollapalooza highlights eclectic talent but also shows just how much people crave that representation and diversity.

Music Festivals 2024 Guide: Lineups & Dates For Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo & Much More

Since 1959, the GRAMMY Award has been music’s most coveted honor. Each year at the annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY-winning and -nominated artists are recognized for their musical excellence by their peers. Their lives are forever changed — so are their career trajectories. And when you have questions about the GRAMMYs, we have answers.

Here are seven facts to know about the value of the GRAMMY trophy.

How Much Does A GRAMMY Trophy Cost To Make?

The cost to produce a GRAMMY Award trophy, including labor and materials, is nearly $800. Bob Graves, who cast the original GRAMMY mold inside his garage in 1958, passed on his legacy to John Billings, his neighbor, in 1983. Billings, also known as "The GRAMMY Man," designed the current model in use, which debuted in 1991.

How Long Does It Take To Make A GRAMMY Trophy?

Billings and his crew work on making GRAMMY trophies throughout the year. Each GRAMMY is handmade, and each GRAMMY Award trophy takes 15 hours to produce. 

Where Are The GRAMMY Trophies Made?

While Los Angeles is the headquarters of the Recording Academy and the GRAMMYs, and regularly the home of the annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY trophies are produced at Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado, about 800 miles away from L.A.

Is The GRAMMY Award Made Of Real Gold?

GRAMMY Awards are made of a trademarked alloy called "Grammium" — a secret zinc alloy — and are plated with 24-karat gold.

How Many GRAMMY Trophies Are Made Per Year?

Approximately 600-800 GRAMMY Award trophies are produced per year. This includes both GRAMMY Awards and Latin GRAMMY Awards for the two Academies; the number of GRAMMYs manufactured each year always depends on the number of winners and Categories we award across both award shows.

Fun fact: The two GRAMMY trophies have different-colored bases. The GRAMMY Award has a black base, while the Latin GRAMMY Award has a burgundy base.

Photos: Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

How Much Does A GRAMMY Weigh?

The GRAMMY trophy weighs approximately 5 pounds. The trophy's height is 9-and-a-half inches. The trophy's width is nearly 6 inches by 6 inches.

What Is The True Value Of A GRAMMY?

Winning a GRAMMY, and even just being nominated for a GRAMMY, has an immeasurable positive impact on the nominated and winning artists. It opens up new career avenues, builds global awareness of artists, and ultimately solidifies a creator’s place in history. Since the GRAMMY Award is the only peer-voted award in music, this means artists are recognized, awarded and celebrated by those in their fields and industries, ultimately making the value of a GRAMMY truly priceless and immeasurable.

In an interview featured in the 2024 GRAMMYs program book, two-time GRAMMY winner Lauren Daigle spoke of the value and impact of a GRAMMY Award. "Time has passed since I got my [first] GRAMMYs, but the rooms that I am now able to sit in, with some of the most incredible writers, producers and performers on the planet, is truly the greatest gift of all." 

"Once you have that credential, it's a different certification. It definitely holds weight," two-time GRAMMY winner Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of the Roots added. "It's a huge stamp as far as branding, businesswise, achievement-wise and in every regard. What the GRAMMY means to people, fans and artists is ever-evolving." 

As Billboard explains, artists will often see significant boosts in album sales and streaming numbers after winning a GRAMMY or performing on the GRAMMY stage. This is known as the "GRAMMY Effect," an industry phenomenon in which a GRAMMY accolade directly influences the music biz and the wider popular culture. 

For new artists in particular, the "GRAMMY Effect" has immensely helped rising creators reach new professional heights. Samara Joy, who won the GRAMMY for Best New Artist at the 2023 GRAMMYs, saw a 989% boost in sales and a 670% increase in on-demand streams for her album Linger Awhile, which won the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Album that same night. H.E.R., a former Best New Artist nominee, saw a massive 6,771% increase in song sales for her hit “I Can’t Breathe” on the day it won the GRAMMY for Song Of The Year at the 2021 GRAMMYs, compared to the day before, Rolling Stone reports. 

Throughout the decades, past Best New Artist winners have continued to dominate the music industry and charts since taking home the GRAMMY gold — and continue to do so to this day. Recently, Best New Artist winners dominated the music industry and charts in 2023: Billie Eilish (2020 winner) sold 2 million equivalent album units, Olivia Rodrigo (2022 winner) sold 2.1 million equivalent album units, and Adele (2009 winner) sold 1.3 million equivalent album units. Elsewhere, past Best New Artist winners have gone on to star in major Hollywood blockbusters (Dua Lipa); headline arena tours and sign major brand deals (Megan Thee Stallion); become LGBTIA+ icons (Sam Smith); and reach multiplatinum status (John Legend).

Most recently, several winners, nominees and performers at the 2024 GRAMMYs saw significant bumps in U.S. streams and sales: Tracy Chapman's classic, GRAMMY-winning single "Fast Car," which she performed alongside Luke Combs, returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time since 1988, when the song was originally released, according to Billboard. Fellow icon Joni Mitchell saw her ‘60s classic “Both Sides, Now,” hit the top 10 on the Digital Song Sales chart, Billboard reports.

In addition to financial gains, artists also experience significant professional wins as a result of their GRAMMY accolades. For instance, after she won the GRAMMY for Best Reggae Album for Rapture at the 2020 GRAMMYs, Koffee signed a U.S. record deal; after his first GRAMMYs in 2014, Kendrick Lamar saw a 349% increase in his Instagram following, Billboard reports. 

Visit our interactive GRAMMY Awards Journey page to learn more about the GRAMMY Awards and the voting process behind the annual ceremony.

2024 GRAMMYs: See The Full Winners & Nominees List

The Recording Academy has partnered with leading online learning platform Coursera on GRAMMY GO, a new online initiative to offer classes tailored for music creators and industry professionals.

This partnership empowers the next generation of the music community with practical, up-to-the moment digital content that provides wisdom for both emerging and established members of the industry. Continuing the Academy’s ongoing mission to serve all music people, courses cover a variety of specializations tailored to creative and professional growth. 

GRAMMY GO on Coursera includes courses taught by Recording Academy members, featuring GRAMMY winners and nominees and offers real-life lessons learners can put to work right away.

Starting today, enrollment is open for GRAMMY GO’s first Coursera specialization, "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals," taught by Joey Harris, international music/marketing executive and CEO of Joey Harris Inc. The course features Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and five-time GRAMMY winner Jimmy Jam, 10-time GRAMMY nominee Janelle Monáe and three-time GRAMMY winner and the 2024 GRAMMYs Best New Artist Victoria Monét. This foundational specialization will help participants gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to build a strong brand presence and cultivate a devoted audience within the ever-changing music industry. 

The partnership’s second course, launching later this summer, aims to strengthen the technological and audio skills of a music producer. "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" will be taught by Carolyn Malachi, Howard University professor and GRAMMY nominee, and will include appearances by GRAMMY winner CIRKUT, three-time GRAMMY winner Hit-Boy, artist and celebrity vocal coach Stevie Mackey, five-time GRAMMY nominee and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr., and 15-time GRAMMY winner Judith Sherman. Pre-enrollment for "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" opens today.

"Whether it be through a GRAMMY Museum program, GRAMMY Camp or GRAMMY U, the GRAMMY organization is committed to helping music creators flourish, and the Recording Academy is proud to introduce our newest learning platform, GRAMMY GO, in partnership with Coursera," said Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy. "A creator’s growth path is ongoing and these courses have been crafted to provide learners with the essential tools to grow in their professional and creative journeys."

"We are honored to welcome GRAMMY GO, our first entertainment partner, to the Coursera community," said Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera. "With these self-paced online specializations, aspiring music professionals all over the world have an incredible opportunity to learn directly from iconic artists and industry experts. Together with GRAMMY GO, we can empower tomorrow's pioneers of the music industry to explore their passion today."

GRAMMY GO also serves as the music community’s newest digital hub for career pathways and editorial content that provides industry insights for members of the industry; visit go.grammy.com for more. For information and enrollment, please visit the landing pages for "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals" and "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song."

Meet 5 GRAMMY Nominees Who Started At GRAMMY U: From Boygenius Engineer Sarah Tudzin To Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying

As a founding member of the National Recording Preservation Board, the Recording Academy was instrumental in lobbying and getting the board created by Congress. Now, the Library of Congress has added new treasures to the National Recording Registry, preserving masterpieces that have shaped American culture.

The 2024 class not only celebrates modern icons like Green Day’s punk classic Dookie and Biggie Smalls' seminal Ready to Die, but also honors vintage gems like Gene Autry’s "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and Perry Como’s hits from 1957. These recordings join over 650 titles that constitute the registry — a curated collection housed within the Library’s vast archive of nearly 4 million sound recordings. 

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced these additions as essential pieces of our nation’s audio legacy, each selected for their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance. This selection process is influenced by public nominations, which hit a record number this year, emphasizing the public's role in preserving audio history.

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"The Library of Congress is proud to preserve the sounds of American history and our diverse culture through the National Recording Registry," Hayden said. "We have selected audio treasures worthy of preservation with our partners this year, including a wide range of music from the past 100 years, as well as comedy. We were thrilled to receive a record number of public nominations, and we welcome the public’s input on what we should preserve next."

The latest selections named to the registry span from 1919 to 1998 and range from the recordings of the all-Black 369th U.S. Infantry Band led by James Reese Europe after World War I, to defining sounds of jazz and bluegrass, and iconic recordings from pop, dance, country, rock, rap, Latin and classical music.

"For the past 21 years the National Recording Preservation Board has provided musical expertise, historical perspective and deep knowledge of recorded sound to assist the Librarian in choosing landmark recordings to be inducted into the Library’s National Recording Registry," said Robbin Ahrold, Chair of the National Recording Preservation Board. "The board again this year is pleased to join the Librarian in highlighting influential works in our diverse sound heritage, as well as helping to spread the word on the National Recording Registry through their own social media and streaming media Campaigns."

Tune in to NPR's "1A" for "The Sounds of America" series, featuring interviews with Hayden and selected artists, to hear stories behind this year’s picks. Stay connected to the conversation about the registry via social media and listen to many of the recordings on your favorite streaming service.

For more details on the National Recording Registry and to explore more about the selections, visit The Library of Congress's official National Recording Registry page.

National Recording Registry, 2024 Selections (chronological order)

1. "Clarinet Marmalade" – Lt. James Reese Europe’s 369th U.S. Infantry Band (1919)

2. "Kauhavan Polkka" – Viola Turpeinen and John Rosendahl (1928)

3. Wisconsin Folksong Collection (1937-1946)

4. "Rose Room" – Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian (1939)

5. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" – Gene Autry (1949)

6. "Tennessee Waltz" – Patti Page (1950)

7. "Rocket ‘88’" – Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951)

8. "Catch a Falling Star" / "Magic Moments" – Perry Como (1957)

9. "Chances Are" – Johnny Mathis (1957)

10. "The Sidewinder" – Lee Morgan (1964)

11. "Surrealistic Pillow" – Jefferson Airplane (1967)

12. "Ain’t No Sunshine" – Bill Withers (1971)

13. "This is a Recording" – Lily Tomlin (1971)

14. "J.D. Crowe & the New South" – J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)

15. "Arrival" – ABBA (1976)

16. "El Cantante" – Héctor Lavoe (1978)

17. "The Cars" – The Cars (1978)

18. "Parallel Lines" – Blondie (1978)

19. "La-Di-Da-Di" – Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (MC Ricky D) (1985)

20. "Don’t Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin (1988)

21. "Amor Eterno" – Juan Gabriel (1990)

22. "Pieces of Africa" – Kronos Quartet (1992)

23. Dookie – Green Day (1994)

24. Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)

25. "Wide Open Spaces" – The Chicks (1998)

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