A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in News by A2IM

Alabama Shakes, M83, The Lumineers Top Artist Nominees for 2nd Annual A2IM LIBBY Awards
ATO Records & Dualtone Music Group Earn Most Label Nominations

A2IM today announces the nominees for the 2nd Annual Libera Awards (The “LIBBYs”), to be held Thursday, June 20 at NYC’s Highline Ballroom, closing out A2IM’s 8th annual Indie Week. The LIBBYs, co-presented by Caroline, celebrate the continually expanding successes of Independent labels and artists – and the services that support them – and are voted on solely by members of the Independent community.

Eligible releases (March 1, 2012 – February 28, 2013) were narrowed down to six nominees per category (or more in the case of a tie) by expert panels including the most knowledgeable tastemakers, programmers, and professional supporters of Independent music. As in the inaugural LIBBYs, which counted Arcade Fire, Glassnote Records, and Daptone among its winners, this year’s nominees exemplify both the diversity of the Independent label community in terms of label sizes, geographic locations, and genres of music they release, as well as the critical and commercial success of Independent labels investing in the creation of music by the artists they love.

2013 Libera Award Nominees:

Independent Album of the Year (sponsored by Spotify)
• ‘Boys & Girls’ – Alabama Shakes (ATO Records)
• ‘Allah-Las’ – Allah-Las (Innovative Leisure)
• ‘Bloom’ – Beach House (Sub Pop)
• ‘Shields’ – Grizzly Bear (Warp Records)
• ‘Celebration Rock’ – Japandroids (Polyvinyl Records)
• ‘The Heist’ – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Macklemore)
• ‘Babel’ – Mumford & Sons (Glassnote Records)
• ‘RED (Deluxe Edition)’ – Taylor Swift (Big Machine Records)
• ‘The Lumineers’ – The Lumineers (Dualtone Music Group)
• ‘Coexist’ – The xx (XL Recordings/Young Turks)

Listen to the Spotify Album of the Year Playlist

Independent Label of the Year Award – 5 employees or less worldwide (sponsored by The Orchard)
• Bar/None Records
• Daptone Records
• Dualtone Music Group
• Frenchkiss Records
• Ghostly International
• Kill Rock Stars
• Third Man Records

Independent Label of the Year Award – 6 employees or more worldwide (sponsored by ADA)
• Anti Records
• ATO Records
• Big Machine Records
• Concord Music Group
• Glassnote Records
• Hopeless Records
• Sub Pop
• XL Recordings

Up and Comer Award (sponsored by eMusic) – celebrating the next Independent label superstar artist; to qualify artist must have total career sales not exceeding 5000 full length albums or 25,000 tracks (combined) as of Feb. 17, 2013
• Air Dubai (Hopeless Records)
• BOY (Nettwerk)
• LEOGUN (Yamaha Entertainment Group)
• Mikal Cronin (Merge Records)
• MNDR (Ultra Music)
• The Virginmarys (Wind-up Records)

Video of the Year
• “Hold On” – Alabama Shakes (ATO Records)
• “For Baltimore” – All Time Low (Hopeless Records)
• “Dirty Money” – Antibalas (Daptone Records)
• “Kill Your Heroes” – AWOLNATION (Red Bull Records)
• “My Love Is Real” – Divine Fits (Merge Records)
• “Wait” – M83 (Mute)
• “Thrift Shop” – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Macklemore)

Best Sync Usage (sponsored by Getty Images Music) – for the most creative or most impactful use of Independent music in a film/TV/ad campaign
• “Ebb Away” – …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (Century Media/Superball) in Fox Surf by Tim Scanlin
• “Always Alright” – Alabama Shakes (ATO Records) in Silver Linings Playbook by Susan Jacobs
• “Sail” – AWOLNATION (Red Bull Records) in BMW – Feeling Remains campaign (Olympics premiere) by Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners
• “Can’t Win ‘Em All” – Hanni El Khatib (Innovative Leisure) in Audi (Super Bowl Commercial) by Agoraphone
• “Outro” – M83 (Mute/Caroline) in Red Bull “Gives You Wings” commercial by Tonya Puerto/EMI & Red Bull
• “Speaking Japanese” – Shiny Toy Guns (Five Seven Music) in Virgin America ‘Game Changer’ ad campaign
• “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers (Dualtone Music Group) in Bing by Susan Schwartz

Music Supervisor of the Year (sponsored by Silva Screen Music Group) – for the music supervisor/licensing person who was especially supportive of Independent music labels
• Alexandra Patsavas (Chop Shop Music)
• Frankie Pine (Whirly Girl Music)
• Nora Felder (Picture Tunes)
• Randall Poster (Search Party Music/Posterboy Inc.)
• Susan Schwartz (Platinum Rye)
• Thomas Golubic (SuperMusicVision)

Light Bulb Award – celebrating the most innovative/creative marketing campaign by an Independent label or artist
• Alabama Shakes – album release campaign (ATO Records)
• Bear in Heaven – slowed-down album stream (Dead Oceans/Hometapes)
• Mumford & Sons – ‘Stopover’ tour (Glassnote Records)
• M83 – sustained album campaign (Mute)
• Brian Eno – ‘LUX’ listening events (Warp Records)
• Yep Roc – Yep Roc 15 Festival (Yep Roc Records)

Hardest Working Artist of the Year (sponsored by Believe Digital) – celebrating the Independent label band/artist that worked hardest at their job or was the most instrumental in promoting their music
• Allen Stone (ATO Records)
• Bob Mould (Merge Records)
• Brother Ali (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
• Grimes (4AD)
• Jukebox the Ghost (Yep Roc Records)
• Taylor Swift (Big Machine Records)
• The Lumineers (Dualtone Music Group)

Best Live Act of the Year – celebrating the Independent label band/artist that had the best live act
• Alabama Shakes (ATO Records)
• AWOLNATION (Red Bull Records)
• Bloc Party (Frenchkiss Records)
• Delta Spirit (Rounder)
• Hatebreed (Razor & Tie)
• M83 (Mute)
• Matt and Kim (FADER Label)
• Ra Ra Riot (Barsuk)

Creative Packaging Award (sponsored by A to Z Media) – celebrating the best or most creative packaging – including bundled packages, premium offerings, or artwork/design packaging – from an Independent label or artist in the last 12 months
• “Charmer” – Aimee Mann (SuperEgo Records) by Gail Marowitz & Aimee Mann
• “II” – Bad Books (Triple Crown Records) by Brian Manley & Chris Freeman
• “Until the Quiet Comes” – Flying Lotus (Warp Records) by Stephen Serrato with B+
• “12 Bit Blues” – Kid Koala (Ninja Tune) by Eric San
• “The Disintegration Loops” – William Basinski (Temporary Residence Ltd.) by Jeremy deVine
• “Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection” – Woody Guthrie (Smithsonian Folkways) by Fritz Klaetke

21st Century Award – celebrating the service provider or platform that was most beneficial to Independent labels and artists
• Bandzoogle
• Pandora
• PledgeMusic
• Rdio
• Spotify
• YouTube

Jon Salter, GM at ATO Records summed up the expression of pride that the LIBBY Awards are about when he accepted the nominations for his label and artists saying, “To see Indie records topping the charts and competing on a level playing field is incredibly fulfilling and rewarding for ATO and our artists. It’s been incredibly vibrant this year at ATO, and we feel lucky to have achieved such phenomenal results in a really tough climate. Being recognized by A2IM for the LIBBY nominations is an honor, especially during this extraordinary time for the Independent music sector.”

Dualtone’s Paul Roper, upon learning of the LIBBY nominations for The Lumineers and Dualtone Music Group said, “It’s a great honor to be recognized by our Independent community with these nominations. As evidenced by the recent GRAMMY Awards and reports on market share, Indies are thriving now more than ever. We are extremely proud to have been able to contribute to that story.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to be nominated for the A2IM Light Bulb Award on behalf of all the great Yep Roc Artists who made having the festival possible in the first place,” said Billy Maupin, General Manager of Yep Roc Records. “And knowing that the nominations come from our peers in the Independent music community makes it that much more special and meaningful.”

Hopeless Records said of their three nominations, “What great news! We here at Hopeless Records are big supporters of A2IM and it is an honor to be nominated for Best Label, Video of the Year (All Time Low) and Up & Comer (Air Dubai). Vote for us!”

Hardest Working Artist nominee Jukebox The Ghost (Yep Roc Records) expressed their appreciation (from the road, of course), “Thanks to everyone who nominated us for this. We have met countless hardworking and talented artists, bands, promoters, and labels through years of doing this, so it feels quite special to be recognized among such a passionate community.”

“We at Pandora are particularly proud to receive this nomination,” echoed Tim Westergren, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Pandora. “Since its inception, Pandora has been singularly focused on helping artists connect with their audiences. Personalized radio is a phenomenal resource for Independent musicians, drawing on a huge breadth of catalogue without regard to popularity. In a given month, Pandora plays the music of well over 100,000 artists, the vast majority of whom have never before been played on radio.”

And Daniel Glass, CEO of Glassnote Records, who has spent the better part of the last year seeing his vision and the passion and efforts of his artists and team being acknowledged from music fans, GRAMMY voters, and across the industry affirmed his Independent pride in accepting his three nominations exclaiming, “Huge! Thank you. We are so proud.”

In addition to the above twelve categories, a Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced shortly; voting on all awards will be open to A2IM voting members from April 25 to May 19.

Additionally, the A2IM Libera Award for “Up & Comer Artist presented by eMusic” will be determined by an eMusic member vote, giving music fans the opportunity to choose the next breakthrough Independent artist.

A2IM thanks Caroline, ADA, A to Z Media, Bandzoogle, Believe Digital, eMusic, Getty Images Music, Silva Screen Music Group, Spotify, and The Orchard for their sponsorship of the 2013 Libera Awards.

The 2nd Annual Libera Awards conclude A2IM’s 8th Anniversary Indie Week (June 18-20 in NYC), which will bring together more than 500 executives from around the globe for three days of interactive panels, think tanks, and one-on-one discussions on maximizing the global impact of Independent music.

Posted in News, Press Releases by A2IM

Independent label Grammy successes continued with 36 wins at the 55^th Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Album wins in 18 categories. Mumford & Sons’ win for Album of the Year (Glassnote) is the fifth consecutive trophy for indies in the category, following Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (Concord/Rounder), Taylor Swift (Big Machine), Arcade Fire (Merge), and Adele (who is signed to and marketed by Beggars/XL outside of the U.S.). Below is A2IM’s Grammy Press Release.

Mumford & Sons log 5th consecutive Album of the Year for Indies

2013 marked another strong night for independents at the Grammy Awards, taking 36 of 79 non-producer categories, including Album of the Year and Best Album wins in 18 categories. Mumford & Sons’ win for Album of the Year (Glassnote) is the fifth consecutive trophy for indies in the category, following Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (Concord/Rounder), Taylor Swift (Big Machine), Arcade Fire (Merge), and Adele (who is signed to and marketed by Beggars/XL outside of the U.S.).

Glassnote founder/owner Daniel Glass noted “I’m beyond thrilled and grateful to the band, the independent community that we’re so proudly a part of, to indie retail and the fans that have been a part of this effort.  What can I say about Mumford & Sons?  They’re a joy, a privilege to work with…I can’t even call it work.  And my Glassnote team, I can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done in helping build this tremendous achievement.  On behalf of all indies, I thank the Grammy voters for embracing great music and great artists…this is truly part of an independent movement and we’re only just beginning.”

Leading all independent labels, Concord Music Group artists took home eight Grammy Awards. Concord President Glen Barros couldn’t be more pleased sending this message, “I’m so happy that I want to give everyone Kisses On The Bottom…along with all our other Grammy winning and nominated albums.  I’m so grateful to work with such amazing artists and one of the best teams in the business.”

Said Naxos USA CEO Jim Selby (six non-producer awards): ”I would like to congratulate all of the artists, engineers, and producers who helped create these wonderful recordings. Their dedication, excellence and imagination allows all of us to enjoy this amazing music. All of these projects were created by vibrant independent classical labels, proving yet again how important the ‘indie’ labels and classical music are to each other.”

This year marked the third consecutive year that independent labels and artists led the industry with 50% of all nominations, earning 210 of 393 non-producer nominations.

Billboard’s Item is HERE. In addition prior to the Grammy’s Rich Bengloff was quoted in an AP news item on Huffington Post thanking The Recording Academy for its inclusiveness in the Grammy process.

Posted in News by A2IM

If you weren’t able to attend the A2IM Libera Awards in June or even if you did attend, we hope you’ll enjoy seeing the whole show.  Here is the video shot from the sound booth at Le Poisson Rouge on June 21, 2012.

Posted in News by A2IM

The First Annual A2IM Libera Award Show “The Libbies” was a smashing success! The show, which was held in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on June 21, 2012, was hosted by John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory). A2IM congratulates all of the night’s nominees and winners and extends a big thanks to our sponsors: official.fm, Pandora, eMusic & The Orchard. In July, a video of the Libera Award show will be available to watch on A2IM.org.

The 2012 Libby Winners

Below is a sampling of the press which we received.

A2IM’s official press release can be read HERE.

Our sponsor’s press releases: official.fm’s press release | eMusic’s press release

Wall Street Journal “Rocking It, Indie Style” June 26, 2012 by Raphael Rosen

Wall Street Journal Speakeasy

Billboard.biz: June 22, 2012

Billboard.biz: June 21, 2012

Grammy.org

Getty Images: Official Photos

Pictures on Flickr by John Lambremont (Kill Rock Stars). Thanks John!!

Check Out The  Libera Awards 2012  *Sizzle Reel* by josh steinbauer

A2IM-sizzle-reel from josh steinbauer on Vimeo.

Check out the Video of The Full Show recorded from the sound booth at Le Poisson Rouge

Thanks Again To Our Sponsors

Posted in Press Releases by A2IM

A2IM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 22, 2012

Merge, Daptone, Bon Iver Notch Inaugural Libera Wins

The remarkable scope of the independent music world was on display tonight (6/21) at
A2IM’s inaugural Libera Awards (”The Libbies”) at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC, celebrating
the range of the thriving indie world: diverse genres, labels big and small and from
around the globe. Created by and for the independent label community, the Libera
Awards – named for the Latin word for freedom – capped off A2IM’s 7th Anniversary Indie Week.

Jagjaguwar and Daptone Records led the field with two Libbie wins apiece, while other
winners included Spotify, Arcade Fire (Merge Records), and Glassnote Records. Bon Iver
(Jagjaguwar) grabbed a win for Independent Album of the Year while Daptone took
home Independent Label of Year (6 or more employees).

“Congratulations to all Libera Award nominees and awards winners,” said A2IM Vice
President Jim Mahoney. “A2IM couldn’t be prouder of the great accomplishments of
independent labels and artists in every genre and we’re very pleased that the A2IM
Libbies allow the indie community to celebrate itself.”

Among the 250+ attendees packed into the club was Martin Mills, the Beggars Group
Founder/CEO, who was awarded the inaugural A2IM Libera Awards Lifetime
Achievement Award. Seymour Stein presented the award to Mills with a heartfelt
speech, and the assembled indie music VIPs warmly welcomed Stein back into the
independent community with his relaunched Blue Horizon Records label (with partner
Richard Gottehrer).

During the event, download-and-discovery service eMusic announced the winners for the A2IM Libera Awards Up & Comer Award. As determined by eMusic’s community of
members, the winner was the post-punk, soul group JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
(Bloodshot Records), while the winner voted by the A2IM membership was The Dø (Six
Degrees Records).

2012 Libera Winners:

21st Century Award – celebrating the service or platform most beneficial to independent
labels & artists:

Spotify

Best Independent Sync Placement – the most creative or most impactful use of
independent music in a film/tv/ad campaign:

Glassnote Records (GIVERS’ song “Saw You First” in Kindle Fire product launch)

Creative Packaging Award – celebrating the best or most creative packaging – including
bundled packages, premium offerings or artwork/design packaging – from an independent label or artist:

Ninja Tune for Amon Tobin (ISAM limited edition “Control Over Nature” CD/Book)

Independent Album of the Year presented by Official.fm:

Bon Iver – ‘Bon Iver’ (Jagjaguwar)

Independent Video of the Year:

Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” (Merge Records)

Independent Label of the Year (5 full time employees or fewer):

Daptone Records

Independent Label of the Year (6 or more employees):

Jagjaguwar

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Martin Mills, Beggars Group Founder/CEO

Light Bulb Award for Most Creative Marketing Campaign/Idea:

Epitaph/Anti- Records (Tom Waits Invite-Only Listening Party)

Music Supervisor – celebrating the music supervisor/licensing person who was especially
supportive of independent music labels and artists:

PJ Bloom (Neophonic)

Road Warrior of the Year – celebrating the independent label band/artist that was the
most fan-engaged/worked hardest at their job in the last 12 months:

Charles Bradley (Daptone Records)

Up & Comer Award presented by eMusic – celebrating the next independent label
superstar artist:

The Dø (Six Degrees Records) [A2IM member vote]

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (Bloodshot Records) [eMusic member vote]

A2IM thanks Official.fm, Pandora, eMusic, and The Orchard for their sponsorship of the
2012 Libera Awards.

http://a2im.org/

http://shorefire.com/clients/A2IM/

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.

As of July 4, 2012, the organization’s board of directors will be composed of the
following: Daptone Records General Manager Cathy Bauer; Sub Pop VP of Business
Affairs Eric Brown; 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; Glassnote Records General Manager Chris Scully; Naxos of
America CEO Jim Selby; Tommy Boy CEO/Founder Tom Silverman; Jagjaguwar/Dead
Oceans/Secretly Canadian Founder/Co-Owner Darius Van Arman; Razor & Tie COO Victor Zaraya.

For more information, or to become a member, please visit www.A2IM.org.
For press information on A2IM, please contact Elizabeth Lutz [elutz@shorefire.com],
David McTiernan [dmctiernan@shorefire.com], or Rebecca Shapiro
[rshapiro@shorefire.com] at Shore Fire Media, 718.522.7171.

Posted in News by A2IM

Indies Reign At Grammys Taking Home Album of the Year & Best New Artist Awards

Independent artists and labels celebrated a huge year at the 53rd Grammy® Awards, taking home 46 awards in a wide variety of categories, including Album of the Year, Best New Artist as well as Best Album Awards in over a dozen categories.

Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’ win for Album of the Year marks the third consecutive win for Indies in the leading category, following 2010’s winner Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’ (Big Machine), and 2009’s winner Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ ‘Raising Sand’ (Rounder).

This year also saw the first time, since A2IM started keeping track, independent labels and artists lead the nominations with over 50% of all awards; a true sign of the continued strength and importance of independent music. Altogether, independents held 273 of the 542 possible nomination spots.

Jim Mahoney, Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), congratulated this year’s winners, saying: “Tonight’s Independent presence at the Grammys not only demonstrates the continued growth and diversity of our labels across genres but also speaks to the quality of music that the Indies continue to create and support.”

Glen Barros, President and CEO of Concord Music Group (and A2IM board member) shared his excitement over tonight’s Indie successes and in particular Concord’s Esperanza Spalding taking the Best New Artist award: “I think I heard Cee Lo say ‘holy forgettin’ shhh’ when Esperanza won. Or maybe that was me. I’m so incredibly happy for Esperanza. She SO deserves this award, but I’m shocked that a jazz artist won against such tough competition. It’s incredible! She’s incredible! We’re so proud of our 4 other winners and all our nominees too!”

Jim Selby, CEO of Naxos USA, who co-led (with Concord Music Group) the independents party at this year’s Grammys both with five awards: “As the North American distributor for over 100 independent classical, jazz, performing arts DVD, bluegrass and American roots music labels, Naxos of America is honored to be the home for so many Grammy-winning recordings and artists this year. The diversity of our family of labels, their phenomenal artist rosters and extraordinary recordings and films remain clear evidence that independent record labels will continue to be a vital force in the recording industry for many years to come.”

George Fontaine, President of New West Records who grabbed two GRAMMYs for Crazy Heart: “We are honored to have received two Grammy Awards for Crazy Heart Original Motion Picture Soundtrack today. Congratulations to everyone who made this project such a success.”

Mike Carden, President of Operations North America for Eagle Vision who picked up the Best Long Form Video GRAMMY for “When Your Strange”: “It gives us a tremendous feeling of excitement and pride knowing that Eagle Rock Entertainment was able to bring the Doors “When You’re Strange,” to the marketplace. The feeling is further confirmed by The Recording Academy’s voting membership, that this is the best long from video release of 2010.”

Denny Stilwell, GM of Mack Avenue Records who picked up the GRAMMY for Best Gospel Song “It’s What I Do” by Kirk Whalum: “I can’t think of a more deserving Grammy winner this year than Kirk Whalum for Best Gospel Song. Congratulations, Kirk!”

Robert Williams, CEO of 335 Records whose artist Larry Carlton won the GRAMMY for Best Pop Instrumental Album: “The beauty of being involved in a GRAMMY nominated album, is that you have already won, before the results are in. Winning the award is just the icing on top.”

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; Razor & Tie Executive Vice President Dan Hoffman; The Beggars Group CEO/Founder Martin Mills; Lookout Records co-owner Molly Neuman; Kill Rock Stars President Portia Sabin; Tommy Boy CEO/Founder Tom Silverman.

For more information, or to become a member, please visit www.A2IM.org.

For press information on A2IM, please contact Elizabeth Lutz [elutz@shorefire.com] or Rebecca Shapiro [rshapiro@shorefire.com] at Shore Fire Media, 718.522.7171