When people talk about “Awards season” they’re usually referring to awards for movies, like the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, and the Oscars, but not all of the upcoming awards shows are movie related as the Grammy Awards are this weekend as well. It’s the most prestigious award in music, which is why it blew my mind to discover just what goes into making a Grammy award, because it’s not even close to what I would have guessed.
Considering just how many Grammy awards are given out every year, Disneyland even won a Grammy once, I assumed that it took some sort of major operation, an assembly line to rival the auto industry, to produce them all. Apparently not. Grammys are built by hand by four guys in the mountains of Colorado, and that's not the only surprising fact about these awards.
The Grammys Are Made By Four People
A story in the Los Angeles Times reveals a lot of details about the Grammy Awards that not only did I not know, but I never would have guessed. The biggest revelation is that every single award is made by hand by a guy named John Billings and his three craftsmen at a workshop in the town of Ridgway, Colorado. It takes about 15 hours to produce one Grammy.
Billings apprenticed Bob Graves, who produced the first Grammys. When Graves passed away, Billings bought the business and has been doing it ever since. Bill Freimuth, the former Senior VP of Awards for the Recording Academy explained why the Grammys still makes its awards this way, saying…
I guess it’s not really our style to go with the easiest way of doing things. One of the reasons artists appreciate the award is because it is handmade and handcrafted by other artists. Some would argue that it’s more precious because of that.
There’s certainly something to be said for knowing the award you’re holding was handmade by an artist, and one can imagine that musical artists appreciate that. Of course, it does mean that not every single Grammy is absolutely identical, but Billings says that is part of the charm of it all...
We’ll ask each other, ‘Is it a flaw or does it give it character? If it’s flawed we toss it, the others we keep.
One has to imagine this is especially nice for the likes of Taylor Swift and Beyonce, who have so many Grammys that maybe they can appreciate that each one is a tiny bit different.
The Grammy Award Increased In Size For Television
The general design of the Grammy Award hasn’t changed since it was first handed out in 1959, but that doesn’t mean the award hasn’t gone through some changes. In the early 1990s, the award was made about 30% larger, and the reason was television.
Apparently, the feeling was that the old award was too small, so when people were watching the Grammy Awards on television they had trouble seeing it. Increasing its size fixed that problem. It was also made less fragile, as the tone arm on the award tended to break off, so it was made more sturdy.
Winner’s Aren’t Given “Real” Grammys On Awards Night
While the Grammys may have been increased in size for TV, it turns out that doesn’t mean what the artists are handed that night are the actual awards. The show uses “stunt Grammys” for the telecast, then the winners are sent their awards later.
This allows the engraving of the awards to be handled at the workshop. This marks a significant difference from other awards. The Oscars that are given out on the show are the real thing, and winners get their Oscars engraved at the afterparty.
Taylor Swift Accidently Destroyed One Of Her Grammys
Taylor Swift has won 14 Grammys in her career, and she has the chance to win several more this year. Hopefully, if she wins a few she’ll have better luck holding them than she did back in 2010. That year she won four awards, and ended up dropping one and smashing it into pieces. Billings now has the destroyed award, along with a note from Swift that read “Oops.” Maybe that’s why they don’t hand out the real awards on the show.
The 2025 Grammy Awards will be an exciting contest. Beyonce is competing in several country music categories but she's also going up against some massive talent in the general categories including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan.
So, make sure to keep your eye on the competition and the trophies they're awarded when the Grammys air on the 2025 TV schedule this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
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