Republic Records announced last week that it will cease using the term “urban,” Mason noted that the Academy’s changes actually were decided last month. “The time frame of our process is that proposals are turned in by March, they’re discussed [internally at annual board meetings] in May, and now we’re talking about them publicly, so these are things that have been in the works for six months.”Bill Freimuth, Chief Awards Officer, said in a statement: “As a peer-driven and peer-voted award, members of the music community are directly involved in the growth and preservation of the Grammys process.