The awards season for 2012 is upon us, and likely to be another exciting year. The 2012 Grammy Awards are no exception. Every year, the music industry announces it’s favorites for a special contribution in music, making a Grammy Award the most coveted in music. This year, the 2012 Grammy Awards will see a slight change in it’s awards–the number of Grammy Awards Categories has been cut from 109 to 78. Some of the Grammy Awards Categories have been completely cut, while others have been combined with others or renamed altogether. Still, there are a few categories which are the most popular and the most respected Grammy Awards. These are known as the Big Four, and include Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

The Grammy for record of the year recognizes an artist for a single track on an album and the production team’s overall work on an album. Previous winners of the record of the year categories have been extremely different in their styles and genres, and include everything from the Eagles “Hotel California”, to Billy Joel “Just the Way You Are” to Dixie Chicks “Not Ready To Make Nice”. This honors a particular song on an album as well as the artist and the people who help mix the song to perfect the track for an album.

Album of the Year differs from Record of the Year in that it recognizes an entire album, not just a single track. It honors the artist, as well as the production team’s compilation of tracks for a complete album. This award is the most prestigious award recognized in all of music. Originally, the Grammy for Record of the Year was awarded just to the artist, but now the whole production team is recognized for their contribution to creating the whole compilation. Winners of this category rank as some of the most widely recognized artists in music and include the likes of Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Barbara Streisand, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, and U2.

The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is not to be confused with Record of the Year. It is awarded to a song writer for a particular song, not the artist who performs it. While sometimes the writer and performing artist are often the same, it is not always the case for Song of the Year. Past winners in the Song of the Year category include “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” performed by Tina Turner, written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten; and “Just the Way You Are” written and performed by Billy Joel.

Best New Artist is the final of the Big Four of Grammy Awards categories. The official guidelines for an award in this category says it is for a new artist who releases the first recording which establishes the artist. Winners of this award have included Bobby Darin, The Beatles, Carly Simon, The Culture Club, Hootie and the Blowfish, Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, and Maroon 5. This award is sometimes thought of as a curse to recipients, as frequently artists who receive this prestigious award are unable to achieve such high standards in subsequent years, and later drop off the music world’s map.

This year’s Grammy Awards are set to air on February 12 on CBS. It will be interesting to see who the Awards in the Big Four go to this year, with nominees like Adele, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, the Foo Fighters, Rihanna, Bon Iver, and J. Cole. The talent represented in this year’s Grammy Awards is second to none.