ON Wednesday in Los Angeles, winners in more than 80 Grammy Award categories will be announced.
In its 35th year, nominations for the recording industry awards were determined by the 7,000 voting members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).
Sound important? Sound huge? It may be both to an estimated worldwide television audience of two billion.
But to people within the industry - and for many musicians - the Grammys have become little more than a night where a win could catapult a disappearing album back into the top 10.
And an increasing amount of Grammy nominations seem out of sync with the listening public.
NARAS members tend to be experts within their given category but are often blind as to what is happening in other fields. Hence, the more mainstream and recognisable the name in some categories, the more likely an artist will get a nomination or Grammy.
Though the award organisers have tried to keep up with rapidly chan ging musical styles by adding rap and alternative categories, there is still no rhyme or reason for the selection of nominees or winners much of the time.