CMA Announces New Hall of Fame Procedures

Yesterday the Country Music Association announced category and voting procedural changes for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Three inductees will continue to be announced annually, and each new member will be selected from a different category.The three new categories are:Veterans Era - For professionals that have been in the industry longer than 25 years. Veterans Era combines the "Career Achieved National Prominence Between World War II and 1975" and "Career Achieved National Prominence Prior to World War II" into one category. Modern Era - For professionals that have been in the industry at least 20 years, but no more than 25 years. Modern Era replaces "Career Achieved National Prominence Between 1975-Present." Rotating Categories - This rotating category will allow each group in the spotlight every third year. The categories include the Recording and/or Touring Musician, Non Performer and Songwriter.The Veterans Era and Modern Era categories will have separate Nominating Committees, each made up of 12 industry leaders who serve three-year terms. The Modern Era Nominating Committee will oversee the Rotating Categories. Two panels of electors, made up of historians and industry professionals, will vote for the categories. One panel will cast votes for both the Modern Era and Rotating categores, while another will handle votes for the Veterans Era category. Two rounds of voting will take place; the first ballot will contain a listing of between 10-20 candidates and each voter will vote for five nominees. The second ballot will contain the top five nominees from the first ballot, and then voters will select one candidate from this listing. Read Webb's Woof for comments on this story and more!