The Grammy trophy: Design, weight, height | How much is the miniature gramophone worth? (2024)

FAQs

The Grammy trophy: Design, weight, height | How much is the miniature gramophone worth? ›

Each statuette weighs five pounds, four ounces (2.3kg) and stands nine inches (22.8cm) tall, notes the Recording Academy. The average estimated cost of the award is $15 as it is made with a unique alloy containing no precious metals. It takes 15 to 20 hours of labor to make.

However, once the statuette is awarded, its actual value drops to $0, as the Recording Academy prohibits the resale of its awards. Although the award has no value, there is a monetary addition to the winners due to the phenomenon known as the 'Grammy bounce.

According to the Los Angeles Times, each Grammys trophy — a 24-karat-gold-plated gramophone attached to a metal base — clocks in at about five pounds.

Eventually, the name was chosen after a mail-in contest whereby approximately 300 contestants submitted the name 'Grammy', with the earliest postmark from contest winner Jay Danna of New Orleans, Louisiana, as an abbreviated reference to Emile Berliner's invention, the gramophone.

LOS ANGELES — Since 1958, the Recording Academy has been awarding a golden trophy to music artists. The unique, gold-plated trophy is shaped like a gramophone – an old-fashioned record player.

Formally, there are no cash prizes associated with winning a Grammy award and even selling the statue is against the rules of the Recording Academy, the organization that presents the awards.

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.

The value of a Grammy, therefore, lies not in direct monetary gains but in the prestige and recognition it affords. Despite the lack of a direct financial reward, winning a Grammy has significant indirect benefits for artists.

No, Grammys aren't actually made of brass. The handheld gramophone statuettes given out on music's biggest night are in fact made of a zinc alloy made specially for the awards (but "all about that zinc" doesn't have much of a ring to it).

Album of the Year at the Grammys is awarded to the recording artist, any supporting artists who performed with the main recording artist, the songwriters, the producers, the recording engineers, mastering engineers and the mixers. Each person (if they are not the same person) receives a statuette for their work.

Why is it called a gramophone? ›

Etymology. From the trademark Gramophone, coined by German-American inventor Emile Berliner in 1887 after the invention of the first phonograph, from Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma, “letter”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).

The words gramophone and phonograph are for the most part the same thing. Gramophone is usually the term people in Europe use for acoustic/early electric era record players. “Phonograph” is used in North America, and can refer to an Edison phonograph, or acoustic/electric player of any type.

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. The British awards are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy awards, and referred to as the Oscars for classical music.

How much are performers paid for the Grammys? A Recording Academy spokesperson told Variety that it was a not-for-profit organization, and that all performers and presenters had traditionally not been paid (apart, presumably, for the SAG-AFTRA minimums).

Jackson's career was rewarded with 13 Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Legend Award and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 6 Brit Awards, 5 Billboard Music Awards and 24 American Music Awards.

Honey, artists do NOT know they won beforehand. However, Grammy producers know the winners in advance and will move categories to the live show once certain artists confirm attendance.

However, it's important o note here that there are no cash prizes associated with winning a Grammy award and those who are lucky enough to be a recipient are not allowed to sell their statuette as that is against the rules of the Recording Academy, the organization that presents the awards.

Most Grammys won

The record for the most Grammy Awards won in a lifetime is held by Beyoncé, an American singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer, who has won 32. It was previously held by Sir Georg Solti, a Hungarian-British conductor, who won 31.

Commonly known as "The Big Award", Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammy Awards, and is one of the four general field categories alongside Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year that have been presented annually since the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959.

Members can buy Grammy tickets at prices ranging from $250 to $2,000. But even the priciest ticket won't get you on the floor with Beyonce and Adele.