A big issue in moving to digital was security. The academy's senior vice president of awards Bill Freimuth told the LA Times that ensuring its auditors "were happy with their ability to still tabulate the ballots correctly" was key. There were also concerns over becoming a "target for hackers."

But going online has important benefits, including the potential for more accurate and representative voting. This could help the academy avoid the cultural bias it has been accused of in the past. In previous years, award winners like Macklemore and Adele have even called out other artists (Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce, respectively) they felt were more deserving, which is telling of the sense of injustice that has permeated the show recently.

Voting for the 2018 Grammys begins in the fall, and the ceremony is set for Jan. 28, 2018. We'll have to wait till then to see if the new system will result in significant changes to the list of winners.