Grammy Protest Planned

Grammy Awards performers, nominees, presenters and guests will be greetedby the musicians who have been shunned from the event following a cull of categories as they arrive at the prizegiving on Sunday (12Feb12).

The acts will protest the Recording Academy's decision to axe 31 ethnicand minority musical categories from the awards show, where many of the big names who have supported them in a petition will appear.

Protest organisers are inviting fans of Latin jazz, gospel and blues music to join them outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

More than 23,000 people have signed a petition demanding that RecordingAcademy officials reinstate Grammy awards they have axed or cut back on.

Last year (11), the executives announced they would be cutting back on the awards handed out at the Grammys, revealing there would be 78 categories from 2012.

In 2011, there were 109.