Membership Policy
A PDF of the following is also available.
MEMBERSHIP
CRITERIA
Member eligibility is limited to individuals and industry business organizations whose primary professional engagement is in the creation, production, promotion and distribution of country music. Membership approval is subject to the complete discretion of the Board.
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
Any person or industry business organizations seeking to become a member must apply to the Board and provide such information as the Board may, from time to time, establish or require; provided that each application must (a) indicate the Membership Category sought, (2) provide sufficient information for the Board to determine the appropriate Membership Category for such applicant, (c) be signed by the applicant, (d) be endorsed by at least two (2) Members in good standing, (e) be accompanied by payment of the appropriate dues, if any, and (f) state that the applicant, if approved as a Member, accepts and agrees to be bound by the Bylaws of the Academy.
Applications are reviewed by the Membership Review Subcommittee annually. All reviewed and approved applicants will be presented to the Board for approval. Incomplete applications will be rejected.
DENIAL OF APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
An Applicant may be denied membership to the Academy if two (2) or more Members of the Board determine that the applicant’s involvement is not in the best interest of the Academy or the applicant does not meet the minimum eligibility requirements in the membership category for which they applied. The Applicant will receive a written “notice of denial” signed by the highest ranking staff member of the Academy and must be notified of the decision within thirty days (30) of review of the membership application. If a prospective member is denied, he/she may appeal the decision by notifying the Vice President, Awards & Membership with the reason for the appeal. The rationale will be presented to the ACM Officers and Membership Committee Chair(s). Their decision will be considered final and no other appeal will be allowed.
MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES
AFFILIATED
To qualify, members must be professionally engaged in the country music industry whose activities are undefined in any of the other membership categories.
ARTIST/MUSICIAN/PRODUCER/ENGINEER
To qualify, members must have contributed to no fewer than (10) commercially released country performances.
VENUE
To qualify, members principal responsibilities must be directly related to the music operation of an establishment that presents no fewer than (4) four country music acts per calendar year.
SONGWRITER
To qualify, members must have no fewer than one (1) country song published, commercially released and must be a member of a nationally recognized performing rights organization.
MANAGER
To qualify, members must represent no fewer than one (1) artist who qualifies for ACM Artist/Musician/Producer/Engineer membership through personal or business management.
MEDIA/PUBLIC RELATIONS
To qualify, members must represent no fewer than one (1) artist who qualifies for ACM Artist/Musician/Producer/Engineer membership or be employed by a commercial publication or media outlet that actively promotes country music.
MUSIC PUBLISHER/PRO
To qualify, members must be employed by a company in a creative capacity that has no fewer than ten (10) country songs published and commercially released.
RADIO
To qualify, members must be actively involved in or employed by country a music radio station.
DIGITAL MARKETING/DISTRIBUTION
To qualify, members must work for a digital service provider or work in digital marketing, digital content or social media marketing.
RECORD COMPANY
To qualify, members must be employed by a record company that has no fewer than one (1) artist signed to their company roster that meets the ACM Artist/Musician/Producer/Engineer membership criteria.
TALENT AGENT
To qualify, members must represent at least one (1) artist that meets the ACM Artist/Musician/Producer/Engineer membership criteria and secures no fewer than fifteen (15) dates per year.
TALENT BUYER/PROMOTER
To qualify, members must actively buy and/or promote no fewer than ten (10) country shows or acts per year.
VISUAL CONTENT
To qualify, members must be actively engaged in the production, packaging, selling or distribution of country music in visual media.
CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP
ACTIVE
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS
An “Individual Member” must be a natural person whose primary professional engagement is in the creation, production, promotion, and distribution of country music, and any such person shall be eligible for membership as an Individual Member only upon approval of the Board of such person’s application for membership and upon timely payment of such annual dues as may from time to time be established by the Board for Individual Members. Individual membership dues are $75 annually and are non-transferrable.
CORPORATE MEMBERS
A “Corporate Member” must be an industry business organization whose primary professional engagement is in the creation, production, promotion, and distribution of country music. A person shall be eligible for membership as a Corporate Member only upon approval of the Board of such person’s application for membership and upon timely payment of such annual dues as may from time to time be established by the Board for Corporate Members; provided that in no event shall there be at any time more than thirty (30) Corporate Members employed by the same record label or other industry organizations or its affiliates.
LIFETIME MEMBERS
A “Lifetime Member” must be a former Chairman of the Academy, an artist who has won fifteen (15) or more ACM Awards, a recipient of an Academy special award or selected by the Academy. Lifetime Members shall not be required to pay annual dues, fees and/or assessments and shall count in the Membership Category in determining Paid Members for such Membership Category.
COMPLIMENTARY MEMBERS
A “Complimentary Member” must be an individual currently employed by the Academy. A Complimentary Member shall not be required to pay annual dues.
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIPS
No record label or company may have more than one hundred “100” members, inclusive of all of their divisions, imprints, etc.
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
All corporate membership accounts are assigned a primary contact known as an account executive who will oversee the membership roster. An account executive may add and remove members as well as update the contact information for any member on the roster. Account executives may also submit new member applications on behalf of full-time staffers. Approval from the current account executive is required for the renewal system administrator to transfer or remove a member from the roster and to change the primary contact occupying the account executive role.
CORPORATE ACCOUNT (NON-RECORD LABEL)
Corporate account eligibility is limited to those (non-record label) companies who have six (6) or fewer active professional memberships in their account roster that have been approved by the Board. No company may have more than six (6) active professional memberships without joining at one of the following corporate levels (corporate accounts may have a maximum of 30 active memberships on a roster):
COMPANY BRONZE
Membership is reserved for those companies who have seven (7) – ten (10) members. Membership dues are $800 annually.
COMPANY SILVER
Membership is reserved for those companies that have eleven (11) – fifteen (15) members. Membership dues are $1,200 annually.
COMPANY GOLD
Membership is reserved for those companies that have sixteen (16) – twenty (20) members. Membership dues are $1,800 annually.
COMPANY PLATINUM
Membership is reserved for those companies that have twenty-one (21) – thirty (30) members. Membership dues are $2,500 annually.
CORPORATE COMPANY
All company accounts that have two (2) – six (6) individual professional memberships will be called a corporate company. A maximum of six (6) individual members can be renewed with annual membership dues of $75 per member. After six (6) members, a corporate account level is required.
ARTIST MEMBERSHIPS
Artists are classified in the Artist/Musician/Producer/Engineer membership category and may have an individual membership or a corporate account. Artist corporate accounts may include full time band and crew members employed directly by the artist ONLY (members employed by a separate entity; i.e. management, record label, media/public relations, business management, etc. may not be included in an artist’s corporate account). A management representative is required to oversee an artist account in the role of account executive.
SINGLE IMPRINT RECORD COMPANY CORPORATE LEVELS
Record Company corporate membership eligibility is reserved for those record labels with one imprint who have eleven (11) or more active record company memberships in their account roster that have been approved by the Board. No company may have more than ten (10) active company memberships without joining at one of the following record company corporate levels:
RECORD COMPANY SILVER
Membership is reserved for those record companies who have eleven (11) – fifteen (15) members. Membership dues are $2,500 annually.
RECORD COMPANY GOLD
Membership is reserved for those record companies who have sixteen (16) – twenty (20) members. Membership dues are $4,000 annually.
RECORD COMPANY PLATINUM
Membership is reserved for those record companies who have twenty-one (21) – thirty (30) members. Membership dues are $7,500 annually.
MULTI-IMPRINT RECORD COMPANY CORPORATE LEVELS
Record Companies with more than one operational imprint will include all members on one membership roster under the parent company name. The maximum number of members one multi-imprint label can have is 100 members. Membership dues will be determined by number of members at the following scale:
- Multi-Imprint Bronze 31-45 Members: $11,250 annually
- Multi- Imprint Silver 46-59 Members: $14,750 annually
- Multi-Imprint Gold 60-75 Members: $18,750 annually
- Multi-Imprint Platinum 76-100 Members: $23,000 annually
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
Renewals of active memberships take place on an annual basis typically October 1 through November 31. Payments must be received by December 31 to be eligible to vote in the awards process.
Active memberships are not renewed or reclassified during the months of active voting rounds for the annual ACM Awards show.
The Academy will send e-mail reminders and invoices to the account executive assigned to oversee a corporate level or corporate company account with a current renewal date. Individual members will receive individual e-mail notifications of renewal to the e-mail address the membership department has on file.
RENEWAL PAYMENTS
Membership dues can be paid by credit card through the Academy’s online renewal system or by check.
A signature by the credit card holder is required to authorize manual credit card payments. Credit card payments cannot to be accepted via phone.
MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY RECLASSIFICATIONS
RECLASSIFICATION OF MEMBER CATEGORY
Membership categories are assigned to individuals based on the job description and job title of the member. When the job description of a member changes, their membership category is evaluated to ensure the member remains properly classified for purposes of voting accuracy. If a member’s category is reclassified, the member is assigned a new member ID in the appropriate membership category.
The highest-ranking staff member of the Academy may propose to reclassify any member to a different category by giving written notice to the member and to the Board of the basis of reclassification.
MEMBERSHIP REQUALIFICATION
If a member in good standing allows their membership to lapse in any given year, the member must reapply for membership to the Academy of Country Music and will be subject to all current membership criteria, review, and board approval.
The Membership Subcommittee may request a member in good standing provide updated information to reconfirm member meets current membership category criteria. If the member does not meet the current membership criteria, the member will be presented to the Membership subcommittee for review.