The A2IM Libera Awards returned to New York last week (June 25) to celebrate the best of the independent music community Stateside.
The culmination of the trade body’s Indie Week, this year’s awards honoured the likes of Sub Pop, Ghostly International and Merlin.
Meanwhile, there was a special award for the co-founder of VP Records, Patricia Chin, who picked up A2IM’s Lifetime Achievement Award – an honour that has previously been handed to Martin Mills, Bruce Iglauer and Tommy Silverman.
VP Records is the largest Reggae and Caribbean music business in the world.
Another special award went to the founder and CEO of the UK’s Association for Independent Music (AIM), Alison Wenham.
Wenham collected the Appleseed Award at the Highline Ballroom in NYC, primarily for her work as head of the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), which aims to speak with a unified voice for independent music businesses across the globe.
One of the big artist winnners on the night was alt-country singer/songwriter Stugill Simpson, signed to Thirty Tigers in the US.
Simpson (pictured), who picked up both Heritage Album Of The Year and Breakthrough Artist Of The Year, recently inked a publishing deal with New York’s Downtown Music Publishing.
2015 Libera Awards: all the Winners
Hardest-Working Artist of the Year (sponsored by BMI)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (Daptone)
Marketing Genius Award
Run the Jewels, Meow the Jewels / Tag the Jewels (Mass Appeal)
Best Sync Usage (sponsored by Silva Screen/So Recordings)
Family of the Year, “Hero,” Boyhood (Nettwerk)
Marketplace Ally
Record Store Day
Independent Champion
Merlin
Creative Packaging Award (sponsored by A to Z Media)
Aphex Twin, Syro (Warp)
Groundbreaking Album of the Year (sponsored by INgrooves)
Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)
Heritage Album of the Year
Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (High Top Mountain/Thirty Tigers)
Breakthrough Artist of the Year (Sponsored by Merlin)
Sturgill Simpson (High Top Mountain/Thirty Tigers)
Video of the Year (sponsored by YouTube)
FKA Twigs “Two Weeks” (Young Turks)
Video of the Year (sponsored by YouTube) — Fan Vote
Die Antwoord “Ugly Boy” (Zef Records/Kobalt Label Services)
Album of the Year (sponsored by Fox Rothschild LLP)
The War on Drugs, Lost In the Dream (Secretly Canadian)
Label of the Year (5 or Less Employees) (sponsored by The Orchard)
Ghostly International
Label of the Year (6 or More Employees) (sponsored by ADA)
Sub Pop
Lifetime Achievement Award
Patricia Chin, VP Records
Appleseed Award
Alison Wenham, Worldwide Independent Network (WIN)Music Business Worldwide
