The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), more widely know as the Recording Academy, is an organization of creative and technical music creators dedicated to 'improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its makers.' Also, they award the prestigious Grammy award to deserving artists every year near the end of January. The membership votes on who wins the award each year, so the award is peer awarded. This last year, almost half of the awards went to independent recording artists. This year, the academy launched its own members-only social networking site. If you are interested in joining the Recording Academy, click grammy.com/join and sign up.