Grammy Award for Best Music Film facts for kids

The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is a special prize given out every year. It celebrates amazing videos or musical shows made by performers, directors, and producers. This award is part of the famous Grammy Awards ceremony. The Grammys started a long time ago in 1958, and back then, they were called the Gramophone Awards.

How Films Qualify for This Award

The Recording Academy in the United States gives out these awards every year. They want to celebrate the best artistic work, technical skills, and overall excellence in music. They don't care how many albums were sold or how popular a song was on the charts.

To be considered for the Best Music Film award, a film must be a concert, a performance, or a music documentary. It needs to have been shown in theaters, sold to the public, or appeared on TV or online for the first time during the past year. Movies that are dramatic stories or tell someone's life story (biopics) are not allowed in this category.

Before 2024, a film had to have at least 51% of its content be live performances to be eligible. But for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and onwards, this rule was removed. Now, films can be more about the story or behind-the-scenes moments.

A Brief History of the Award

Before this award existed, there was a prize called the Grammy Award for Video of the Year in 1982 and 1983. It honored longer music videos, which were sometimes called "video albums."

The Grammy Award for Best Music Film, along with the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video (for shorter videos), first appeared in 1984.

• From 1984 to 1985, it was called Best Video Album.
• In 1986, it changed to Best Music Video, Long Form.
• From 1998 to 2012, it was known as Best Long Form Music Video.
• Since 2013, it has been called Best Music Film.

In 1988 and 1989, the rules changed a bit. The awards were given for Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video. But in 1990, the awards went back to their original style.

Usually, the artists, directors, and producers of the winning videos all receive the Grammy. The Best Music Film award used to be part of a larger group called the "Best Music Video/Film Field." The other award in that group was for Best Music Video, which is for single song videos. In 2024, this group was changed. Now, both music video awards are part of a bigger field that includes Children's, Comedy, Audio Book, and Visual Media categories.

Who Has Won or Been Nominated the Most?

Some artists and creators have won this award more than once!

• Singers Madonna and Sting have each won twice as performers.
• Three films about the Beatles have won, but the band wasn't always named as individual winners.
• Three directors have won twice: David Mallet, Jonas Akerlund, and Bob Smeaton.

When it comes to nominations:

• Beyoncé has the most nominations with five. She won in 2020 for her film Homecoming.
• The British band Eurythmics and Coldplay have the most nominations without a win, with three each.

Past Winners of the Best Music Film Grammy

The rules for who receives the award have changed over the years:

• In 1984 and 1985, only the performing artists received the award.
• In 1986, the artists and the video directors were honored.
• From 1987 onwards, the award has gone to the artist(s) (if they were part of the film), the video director(s), and the video producer(s).

Members of the English new wave group Duran Duran, among recipients of the 1984 accolade for Duran Duran, performing in 2005.

1985 winner for Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, Michael Jackson

Sting has earned two accolades from this category for Bring On the Night and Ten Summoner's Tales.

Janet Jackson won the award in 1990 for Rhythm Nation 1814.

1991 recipient rapper MC Hammer won for Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em

Two-time award winner Madonna. She won in 1992 for Madonna: Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90 and again in 2008 for The Confessions Tour: Live from London.

1993 winner, Annie Lennox.

Alanis Morissette won the award in 1998 for Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill, Live

Mel Brooks won the award for Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks.

Director Don Letts received the award for the documentary Westway to the World about the band The Clash.

2006 award winner for directing the documentary No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese

Bruce Springsteen won the accolade in 2007 for Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run

In 2009, Peter Bogdanovich earned the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for directing Runnin' Down a Dream

2011 award winners included director Tom DiCillo for When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors.

Director James Moll won Foo Fighters's Back and Forth.

Amy Winehouse was the subject of 2016 winner Amy that depicted her life and death. The award went to the director Asif Kapadia who also won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the same film as well.

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard won for the documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.

Rashida Jones won the award as co-director of Quincy, a film about her father, Quincy Jones.

Beyoncé hold the record for the most nominations as of 2022 with five. She won the award in 2020 for directing and performing on Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.

Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
Director(s) are only indicated if they were presented a Grammy Award.
Award was not presented. Music video categories presented that year included Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video.
Award not presented to the performing artist (only to video director(s) and video producer(s))
Director unknown; award presented to video producers only

Artists and Directors with Multiple Awards

It's a big deal to win a Grammy, and some people have won this award more than once!

Multiple Wins

• 2 Wins: Bob Smeaton, Chips Chipperfield, David Mallet, Jonas Akerlund, Madonna, Neil Aspinall, Nigel Sinclair, Sting, and Susan Lacy.

Multiple Nominations

Many talented people have been nominated multiple times for this award.

• 6 Nominations: David Mallet and Morgan Neville.
• 5 Nominations: Beyoncé.
• 4 Nominations: Ed Burke, Jonas Akerlund, Madonna, Nigel Sinclair, Niv Fichman, and Sophie Muller.
• 3 Nominations: Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Danny Clinch, Doug Nichol, Eurythmics, Erin Williams, Michelle An, Paul Dugdale, Robert Gordon, Susan Lacy, Sting, and U2.
• 2 Nominations: Alex Gibney, Allen Hughes, Barbara Willis Sweete, Bill Poveda, Billie Eilish, Bob Smeaton, Caitrin Rogers, Charles Dutoit, Chelsea Dodson, Chips Chipperfield, Cirque du Soleil, David Bowie, Emmett Malloy, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, Grant Gee, Hannes Rossacher, Hart Perry, Janie L. Hendrix, Jim Beach, Jim Parsons, Jimi Hendrix, John McDermott, John Stewart, Karen Bernstein, Kevin Godley, Lee Lodge, Lol Creme, Margaret Bodde, Martin Scorsese, MC Hammer, Michael Boydstun, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Mumford & Sons, Neil Aspinall, Ned O'Hanlon, Quincy Jones, Roger Davies, Rudi Dolezal, Rupert Wainwright, Russell Thomas, Sam Pollard, Scott McFadyen, Steve Pamon, Tamar Hacker, The Who, Tina Turner, and Yo-Yo Ma.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Premio Grammy al mejor video musical de formato largo para niños

• List of Grammy Award categories
• List of most expensive music videos
• One shot (music video)