The Recording Academy's changed stance over its new Asian pop music category after K-pop superstars BTS opted not to submit music for consideration for the 69th Grammy Awards has shown the shifting dynamics between artists and award organizers, according to critics and industry figures.

While acknowledging that such a boycott was possible only because it came from BTS, one of the world's most influential acts today, they say the controversy revealed a relationship in which award shows need artists with vast fandoms more than the artists need them.

The Academy announced the Asian pop music category on June 16 as one of five new awards for the 69th Grammys, open to singles and tracks that make meaningful use of one or more Asian languages.

On July 29, all seven members of BTS posted identical statements saying they would not submit music for Grammy consideration, expressing hope that music could be heard and embraced for what it is, beyond region or language.

As the row grew, Billboard reported Friday that the Recording Academy leadership consulted representatives across the K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and Indian music industries, including HYBE Labels, the Korean entertainment giant behind BTS.

In a statement the same day, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said, "regardless of our intent and desire to be even more inclusive, there are some artists in this space who feel that this category isn’t representing the music they work so hard to create, in the way they wish."

Mason also hinted at reconsidering the category, pledging to work to keep pace with the needs of the music community and to "ensure the musicians we intend to honor feel truly seen and heard by our actions."

"It is the power of BTS rather than the power of K-pop," an executive at a Korean record production and distribution company said on condition of anonymity.

"A Grammy nomination or a win is still an enormous opportunity for most K-pop artists. There is practically no artist other than BTS who could take issue with how the Grammys classified this category and refuse to enter altogether."

The refusal cost BTS little, the executive said, and that was the point.

"I would not say the Grammys surrendered to BTS," the executive said. "What it revealed is a reversed relationship, one in which the Grammys need an artist like BTS with a massive fandom."

Clock favors BTS

Choi Jung-kiu, consultant and author of "Almost Everything You Need to Know About K-pop," said the Recording Academy has long used what he called "ghettoization" to protect the mainstream Western market, while BTS reached the top without passing through its gatekeepers.

"This shift in the Grammys' stance should be viewed not merely as an expansion of the overall influence of Asian artists, but rather as a direct outcome driven by the irreplaceable status of BTS as a unique global intellectual property," Choi said.

"An 'Asian Pop' category without BTS is bound to reveal fatal limitations in both the ceremony's prestige and its commercial impact."

Culture critic Kim Sung-soo also read the Academy's response as a measure of influence.

"BTS raised the issue with a clear understanding of the conditions, and that is why the message landed and the Grammys responded," he said. "Their voice carries that much more weight now."

The category itself works as a barrier, Kim said, keeping Asian music from being tested within global mainstream pop. Audiences no longer depend on tours as they did in the 1980s and 1990s, he added.

"There are no walls now, when you can stream it immediately. For the Grammys to build a barrier of their own and manage music by region is anachronistic."

Culture critic Jung Duk-hyun made a similar point, noting collaborations between BTS and Coldplay, and BLACKPINK member Rosé and Bruno Mars.

"K-pop is already at the stage of entering the mainstream market and collaborating within it, so if you separate the two, is that Asian pop or just pop?" Jung told a local media outlet. Award shows that do not reflect what audiences actually like, he said, "become museums."

Revision signals?

Few expect movement before Friday, when entries for the 69th Grammy Awards close. Music critic Lim Hee-yun told a local media outlet that submissions and recommendations are already largely complete, and that reworking the rules days before the deadline makes no sense.

The executive agreed, saying any changes at this stage would be unfair to those who have entered. The harder position may belong to whoever wins the new award first, according to the executive.

"Whoever takes it, the label of an artist who received the award BTS refused will follow them," the executive said. "It is an irony that an award created to raise the visibility of Asian artists could end up devaluing another artist's achievement."

Mason has defended the category as an effort to "celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia," stressing that artists entering it remain eligible for the general field awards. The Recording Academy declined to provide further comments when contacted by The Korea Times.

For the executive, the question runs deeper than eligibility.

"Above all, there is no musical genre called Asian. This is not local cuisine," the executive said. "What it has left behind is not a demand to compete in the general pop categories, but a question of whether music can be divided by region at all."