Just last year, Chance the Rapper managed to change the landscape of the music business by pushing through a petition to change the Grammy qualifications so that mixtapes that are not sold could still be be considered eligible to win. Thanks to his effort, Chance was nominated for seven total Grammys with his latest project, Coloring Book, being nominated for three, all of which he has a great chance of winning.
Well Chance has just broken some news that, in 2018, all projects released on Soundcloud will be eligible for a Grammy, regardless of if they are up on streaming services. The Grammys has shared new criteria in which music to be considered is from a streaming service that has existed for over a year and has a paid subscription service. Since Soundcloud Go launched back in March, they missed the cutoff for the 2017 Grammys, but Soundcloud projects will be eligible for next year's award show.
This is amazing news for independent artists who might not be familiar with the process of getting music up on streaming services. It's exciting to see such a long-running, highly-respected award organization adapt to the modern landscape of music.
Project released on @Soundcloud will be eligible for #GRAMMYs in 2018.
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) January 19, 2017