Ahead of its 2017 Indie Week, A2IM is thrilled to announce the highly-anticipated list of final nominees for this year’s Libera Awards presented by SoundExchange.
Derived from the Latin word for freedom, these prestigious awards allow members of the independent music world to highlight and honor their peers for their amazing accomplishments.
The Libera Awards allow the independent recorded music community to celebrate and showcase its own, says Richard James Burgess, CEO A2IM. In a digital environment where credits are sorely lacking it is increasingly necessary to identify and publicly demonstrate the incredible diversity of independent music.
Promising to be bigger and better than ever this year, the Libera Awards will top off a week of illuminating and cutting edge speeches and panel discussions offered by a diverse lineup of luminaries from the independent music community. A2IM congratulates all the Libera Award nominees and wishes them good luck.
Some of this year’s nominees include:
Album of the Year sponsored by The Orchard
- Angel Olsen – MY WOMAN (Jagjaguwar)
- Bon Iver – 22, A Million (Jagjaguwar)
- Bonobo – Migration (Ninja Tune)
- Mandolin Orange – Blindfaller (Yep Roc Records)
- Radiohead – Moon Shaped Pool (XL Recordings)
- Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3 (Run the Jewels, Inc.)
- Thundercat – Drunk (Brainfeeder)
Best Live Act Sponsored by Kickstarter
- Angel Olsen (Jagjaguwar)
- Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
- Charles Bradley (Daptone Records)
- Chuck Prophet (Yep Roc Records)
- Iggy Pop (Loma Vista Recordings)
- Radiohead (XL Recordings)
- Run the Jewels (Run the Jewels, Inc)
To view a full list of this year’s nominees, please visit https://a2imlibbys.com/2017-a2im-libera-awards-final
“The ATO team are genuinely excited about these nominations,” said Jon Salter, general manager of ATO Records. “Being recognized by our label peers is a special feeling and we can’t wait to celebrate independent music with A2IM and everyone at The Liberas – one of our favorite events of the year.”
“I am beyond thrilled that PledgeMusic has been nominated for the ‘Independent Champion’ Libera Award. Having worked with the A2IM organization in many different ways over the years, I have a deep understanding of what consideration for this award means and have no doubt PledgeMusic will be in some heady company with this nomination” – Dominic Pandiscia – CEO, PledgeMusic.
“Secretly Group is a proud member of A2IM and the global independent music community. Indie Week is a cherished annual experience. We are honored to have artists from each of our labels — Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, The Numero Group, and Secretly Canadian — receive nominations, as well as as our sister company Secretly Distribution. Acknowledgement from our peers is truly humbling. We look forward to toasting all of the bold and essential artists supported by our community at the Libera Awards.” Says Nick Blandford · Managing Director, Secretly Group.
Indie Week will be held June 5-8 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center in New York City. Featured speakers and panelists will include Pandora CEO and founder Tim Westergren, Music Confidential founder Susan Butler, as well as SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe.
For conference registration and to view the ever-growing lineup of speakers and panel topics, please visit https://a2im.org/event/indie-week-2017.
Although this year’s event will be open to non-members for the first time, A2IM is working hard to spread the word about its special Indie Week membership offer. For labels joining between now and Indie Week, the conference registration will be discounted to $19 per person.
The A2IM Libera Awards are presented by SoundExchange and sponsored by Spotify, The Orchard, ADA, Kickstarter, INgrooves, YouTube, Caroline & Playstation Theater.
About A2IM:
A2IM is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in New York City that exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector. Membership currently includes a broad coalition of more than 430 Independently-owned American music labels. A2IM represents these independently owned small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. In doing so, it supports a key segment of America’s creative class that represents America’s diverse musical cultural heritage. Billboard Magazine, using Nielsen SoundScan data, identified the Independent music label sector as 35.1 percent of the music industry’s U.S. recorded music sales market in 2016 based on copyright ownership, making Independent labels collectively the largest music industry sector.
The organization’s board of directors consists of the following: ATO Vice President Stephanie Alexa, Razor & Tie COO Craig Balsam, Redeye Co-Owner Glenn Dicker, INgrooves EVP & General Manager Amy Dietz, Epitaph/Anti General Manager Dave Hansen, Big Machine COO Andrew Kautz, Beggars Group Founder/CEO Martin Mills, Hopeless Records Owner Louis Posen, Dualtone CEO/Co-Founder Scott Robinson, Tommy Boy Owner & CEO Thomas Silverman, and Secretly Label Group Co-Owner Darius Van Arman.
You can read the Exclusive in Billboard with more quotes from Nominees, here!