ASK MIKE
Who Can Join?
I was thinking about becoming a WAMA member until I heard that you must have six commercial releases to your credit. Is there another way of joining, or do I have to wait until my career catches up? By-the-way, is it true that when you join WAMA you can vote for the Grammies?
Membership in the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) and membership in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) are completely separate.
The main requirement for WAMA membership is an interest in our region's music. All you have to do is fill-out an application and make your payment to WAMA. Full voting membership in NARAS (the Grammy people) requires that you have released six commercial recordings. Associate membership does not have this requirement. The reason for the confusion is, as printed on the October/November 1992 WAMA News, that WAMA and the Philadelphia Music Alliance (PMA) have formed the organizing committee for the new mid-Atlantic chapter of NARAS. But, I repeat, NARAS and WAMA are separate organizations.