--- title: Grammys President Doesn't Think There's a Race Problem description: Grammys president Neil Portnow said that he doesn't think that the recording academy suffers from a race problem. canonical: https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-15T17:32:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:35.953Z og:title: Grammys President: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem' og:description: "It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's subjective" og:url: https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Grammys President: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem' twitter:description: "It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's subjective" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:10 video:published: 2017-02-09 section: entertainment topics: Grammy Awards, Grammy Bounce, album sales, music industry, award shows, Adele, Sam Smith, Beck, Chris Stapleton, sales increase genre: explainer, news feature tones: playful, informative, conversational emotions: amusement (low), curiosity (medium), excitement (low) sentiment: positive audience: music fans, general news readers, music industry followers, pop culture audiences people: Adele, Sam Smith, Beck, Chris Stapleton organizations: Grammy Awards products: In The Lonely Hour transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: What Is The Grammy Bounce? (No, It’s Not A Dance Move) [Watch (HLS stream): What Is The Grammy Bounce? (No, It’s Not A Dance Move)](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LXjNxjjl.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2017-02-09. What do Beck, Sam Smith, and Adele all have In common? The 'Grammy Bounce.'_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video explains the "Grammy Bounce," the sales increase that Grammy-winning artists often see after the awards broadcast. It cites examples from Adele in 2012, Sam Smith and Beck in 2015, and Chris Stapleton the previous year. The numbers cited are presented as evidence that the effect is real. ## Key points - Adele's win for Album of the Year in 2012 was followed by a 207% increase in sales, with over 730,000 albums sold in the week after. (00:10) - The Grammy Bounce refers to Grammy-winning artists seeing a boost in sales following the broadcast of the awards show. (00:19) - Sam Smith saw a 168% rise in sales after taking home four Grammys at the 2015 ceremony, selling 181,000 copies of In The Lonely Hour in the two weeks after. (00:27) - Beck won Album of the Year in 2015 and sold 75,000 copies of his album in the two weeks after the show, up from 2,000 in the two weeks before. (00:40) - Chris Stapleton, who won Country Album of the Year the previous year, saw his sales increase by 19,000 copies the week after the Grammys aired. (00:51) - The video states that few have denounced the Grammy Bounce, and that the numbers appear to speak for themselves. (01:04) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:19] Adele's 2012 Grammy win and sales jump. The video recalls Adele's Album of the Year win and the sales surge that followed in the week after. - [00:19 to 00:51] Defining the Grammy Bounce with examples. The Grammy Bounce is defined, and sales figures for Sam Smith, Beck, and Chris Stapleton are given as examples. - [00:51 to 01:10] Assessing the evidence for the bounce. The video notes that few have rejected the Grammy Bounce and that the sales numbers seem convincing. ## Key quotes - [00:10] interviewer: "Adele said a big hello to a whopping 207% increase in sales, selling over 730,000 albums in the week after her win." - [00:19] interviewer: "Many people refer to this continuing streak of good fortune as the Grammy Bounce," - [00:23] interviewer: "when Grammy-winning artists see a boost in sales following the broadcast." - [00:32] interviewer: "He saw a 168% rise in sales, selling 181,000 copies of his album," - [01:04] interviewer: "Few have denounced the Grammy bounce, but it certainly seems like these numbers speak for themselves." ## Questions this video answers - What is the Grammy Bounce? [00:19] - How much did Adele's album sales increase after winning Album of the Year in 2012? [00:10] - How did Sam Smith's sales change after the 2015 Grammy Awards? [00:27] - Did Beck's album sales rise after he won Album of the Year in 2015? [00:40] - Did Chris Stapleton see a sales increase after winning Country Album of the Year? [00:51]  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 15, 2017 5:32 PM UTC  President/CEO of The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Foundation President/CEO Neil Portnow (L) and Adele backstage during during the The 59th GRAMMY Awards. President/CEO of The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Foundation President/CEO Neil Portnow (L) and Adele backstage during during the The 59th GRAMMY Awards. Michael Kovac—Getty Images for NARAS  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 15, 2017 5:32 PM UTC As Adele’s _25_ beat Beyonce’s _Lemonade_ to the top prizes at this year’s Grammys, it was the latest in a series of controversial award-winners prompting [backlash from some artists and viewers alike](http://time.com/4668626/adele-beyonce-grammys-2017-reactions/). The ceremony was no exception, drawing criticism from those who feel the academy has [consistently undervalued black artists](time.com/4669085/grammys-2017-beyonce-album-of-the-year-adele/). Following the ceremony, in an interview with [_Pitchfork_](http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1443-grammys-boss-neil-portnow-on-race-boycotts-and-working-with-washington/) Recording Academy president Neil Portnow responded to the question “do you think the Grammys has a race problem?” --- > “” --- Portnow added that the academy takes the work of expanding their membership to be more inclusive seriously. “We are always working on increasing diversity in membership, whether it’s ethnicity, gender, genre, or age,” he said. “In order to maintain our relevance, we have to be refreshing all the time and we have to be doing that across the board.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/"},"headline":"Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All'","datePublished":"2017-02-15T17:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:35.953Z","description":"\"It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's inherently subjective\"","url":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Beyonce","grammys","Adele","Grammys 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show","caption":"The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show","creditText":"Michael Kovac—Getty Images for NARAS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","name":"Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What Is The Grammy Bounce? 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