"Our voices and likenesses are... not mere digital kibble for a machine to duplicate without consent," Lainey Wilson told members of Congress
The program, which is in its third year, celebrates movers and shakers in the music industry, across the executive and producer categories.
Other 2024 Special Merit Award honorees include Laurie Anderson, The Clark Sisters, Tammy Wynette and Peter Asher.
The lawsuit says a staffer spent two years in the mid-1990s as "prey to a predator" that the Recording Academy "could have stopped.”
Since 2019, people of color have gone from comprising 24% of the Academy's total membership to 38%. Women now make up 30% of the total.
Capitol Music Group's Michelle Jubelirer will serve as keynote speaker at the Feb. 2, 2024 event.
"As an organization that promotes the unifying and healing power of music, we are shocked and heartbroken," the Recording Academy states.
"Many members of Congress have no idea that there are people making music in their own backyard," says Todd Dupler, the Recording Academy’s chief advocacy & public policy officer.
Quincy Jones received the inaugural Peace Through Music Award from the State Department and The Recording Academy.
Nearly 2,000 Academy members took part in the event last year.
