Posted in News, Press Releases by A2IM
A2IM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2011
Independents Recognized in Top GRAMMY Categories; 194 Nods Total
A2IM, the American Association of Independent Music, congratulates this year’s Grammy Award nominees and, in particular, is pleased that independent music labels and artists earned tremendous recognition on par with last year from the voting members of The Recording Academy. Of the 387 total non-producer nominations for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, independents were celebrated with 194 – half of all nominations!
Jim Mahoney, A2IM Vice President, says, “The music of independent labels and artists offers cultural diversity and breaks new ground for music fans. For the second year in a row, independent labels and artists have scored half of the total nominations; a true sign of the continued strength, presence, and the importance of independent music.”
Special congratulations go to A2IM label members Jagjaguwar and Glassnote Records, for their respective nominations for Bon Iver (Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Alternative Music Album) and Mumford & Sons (Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song).
Of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Darius Van Arman of Jagjaguwar said, “All of us at Jagjaguwar are so proud to be associated with Justin Vernon and the whole Bon Iver extended family. As a company, we are inspired by his success, the way he has achieved it, and are absolutely committed to working with him in a way that reflects his values and overall approach to creating and sharing.” Glassnote’s Daniel Glass echoed his enthusiasm, saying “We are thrilled, ecstatic, proud, happy, and over the moon!”
A2IM would also like to acknowledge the recognition for joint partnerships between indie and major labels which include, excluded from the aforementioned 50% of nominations, six nominations for Adele (XL/Columbia Records) and a nod each for The Band Perry and Martina McBride (Big Machine Label Group/Universal Music/Republic Nashville). XL’s Kris Chen enthused, “We’re delighted to see Adele recognized for her incredible voice, poignant songwriting, and unique artistic vision; and wish to congratulate her and our partners at Columbia.”
Riding a three-year winning streak of Album of the Year Grammys going to A2IM member artists (2010’s “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire on Merge, 2009’s “Fearless” by Taylor Swift on Big Machine Records and 2008’s “Raising Sand” collaboration by Alison Krauss & Robert Plant from Rounder Records), excellent independent music continues to be recognized by the voting members of The Recording Academy. Independent releases are nominated in 66 of 76 non-producer categories (excluding the aforementioned partnerships) which is 87% of all nomination categories, up from 81% in 2010, before the recent Recording Academy consolidation of award categories. Many categories were dominated by Indies, including the categories for Alternative Album, Bluegrass, Blues, Children’s, Folk, Reggae, and World, and all of the Classical, Latin, and Jazz categories.
Mahoney continues, “We applaud the recognition of our entire independent label community. Independents come in all shapes and sizes, business models and musical genres. For every independent, garnering a Grammy nomination is a reward and testament to the tremendous contributions that independents offer to music fans and reflects the hard work music labels poured into supporting these great artists.”
Among the many independents that have been recognized by The Recording Academy this year, there are large independent music label groups like Concord (leading all independents with 16 nominations), Naxos and Cedille in classical (9 and 4 nominations, respectively), Mack Avenue (4 nominations), and 3 nominations each for Big Machine, Epitaph/ANTI-, Ultra… the list goes on and on. Naxos of America CEO Jim Selby noted that Naxos is honored to have American Classics recordings nominated for numerous Grammy Awards this year. The importance of recording American ensembles performing new works by American composers has now been fully recognized by the voting members of the Academy and Naxos is proud to play a role in bringing this important music to a wider audience around the world.
For a full list of A2IM member nominees, click HERE. If you are an A2IM member, who had an artist who was nominated that is not listed here, please let us know before we do our outreach.
Grammy nominees can download the official Grammy Nomination sticker/banner artwork HERE.
About A2IM:
A2IM is a not-for-profit trade organization serving the Independent music community as a unified voice representing a sector that comprises over 30% of the music industry’s market share in the United States (and almost 40% of SoundScan digital sales). The organization represents the Independents’ interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. A2IM is headquartered in New York City. The organization’s board of directors is composed of the following: Concord Music Group President Glen Barros; Sub Pop VP Business Affairs Eric Brown; tinyOGRE Entertainment COO Jim Cooperman; Epitaph General Manager Dave Hansen; Yep Roc Records co-owner Tor Hansen; Alligator Records Founder/CEO Bruce Iglauer; The Beggars Group Founder/CEO Martin Mills; Kill Rock Stars President Portia Sabin; Jim Selby, Naxos of America CEO, Tommy Boy CEO/Founder Tom Silverman; Razor & Tie COO Victor Zaraya.
For press information on A2IM, please contact Elizabeth Lutz (elutz@shorefire.com) or
David McTiernan (dmctiernan@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media, 718.522.7171
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Tags: 54th GRAMMYs, awards, Grammys, The Recording Academy
