Recording Academy vice president of communications Andie Cox's job is getting out the story about the many things the Academy does—not just the GRAMMY Awards® and its annual telecast.

"We love our awards program," she tells Simon, "but what we do year-round is equally as impactful at the Recording Academy," The organization's 12 chapters around the company are involved in advocating on behalf of musicians on Capitol Hill, providing health and human services through the MusiCares program and running the Grammy Museum.

Recently, she says, a lot of the Academy's advocacy efforts are centered around pandemic relief. "As various relief packages were being introduced on the hill, we played a big part in making sure that musicians would be represented in there."

She also mentions the organization's work on such issues as the Music Modernization Act, which updated copyright-related issues for music and audio recordings to account for new forms of technology such as digital streaming. "We work on behalf of the music community to make sure that things remain fair," Cox tells Simon.

But the Grammys and its red carpet remain the Academy's marquee event—and putting it together is a full-time job in and of itself. "In order to get to the person holding the trophy on the night of The Grammy Awards, clearly, there's a lot of planning," she says.

Communications surrounding the awards need to target potential nominees as well as the TV-viewin audience, Cox says. "We have to educate our whole music community on how to even enter your product."

She also says that a big part of her job is sorting out "the balance between entertainment publicity and a corporate brand story, and how those intertwine throughout the year and especially during Grammy season."

Running an event like the Grammys in the midst of a pandemic brings with it a whole series of challenges. "Access to our show is changing," Cox says and she tells Simon that a large part of that change is the growing role that remote and digital connections play.

To handle "the largest and most populated red carpet in Hollywood" took a backstage media center which allowed "some one-on-ones, and we set up some remote things. So, we adapted and there was quite a big virtual presence."

She also thinks virtual presence here to stay, even in the pandemic isn't. "I don't know that we will ever get away with having a global event like this without some sort of media credential for virtual."

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D S Simon Media helps clients get their stories on television through satellite media tours and by producing and distributing content to the media. The company also produces live social media events.