Independents Earn Over Half Of All GRAMMY Nominations For Fifth Year Running

(New York, NY) A2IM, the American Association of Independent Music, congratulates this year’s Grammy Award nominees and specifically recognizes the Independent music labels and artists that earned 219 nominations out of 404 non-producer category nominations (excluding the not-yet-announced Album of the Year nominations). Independents showed both their diversity and the extraordinary achievement in recorded music of their artists, by scoring a majority of nominations in 41 of the 81 non-producer categories. For 15 of the categories, including Best Bluegrass Album, Best Blues Album, Best Folk Album and Best Historical Album, Independents secured 100% of the nominations.

Leading the way for the A2IM Independent community were label members like Big Machine, Concord Music Group, eOne, Motéma Music, and Naxos. Taylor Swift (Big Machine) received three nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance; Childish Gambino (Glassnote) who received two nominations, including Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album; and Arctic Monkeys (Domino) who received a nomination for Best Rock Performance.

A2IM President Rich Bengloff on the nominations:

 “This year, the Recording Academy has once again recognized the abundance of extraordinary music coming from the Independent sector. We congratulate our members and the independent label community on the well-deserved recognition of their hard work and leadership in providing the world outstanding music from their talented artists for all the world to enjoy. Nominations received by music label brands like Compass, Daptone, Ghostlight/ Sh-K-Boom, Mack Avenue, Nacional, Numero, Red House, Sunnyside, Tuff Gong, VP, Warp, and many others speaks to how these music creators and their artists have become trusted sources to the diverse groups of fans of a wide variety of musical genres.  Congratulations to all of the nominees.”

ABOUT A2IM
Celebrating its 10th Anniversary representing America’s independent music label creators, A2IM is a not- for-profit trade organization serving the Independent music community as a unified voice representing a sector that, according to Billboard Magazine, comprises 34.6% of the music industry’s recorded music market share in the United States (and almost 40% of SoundScan digital album sales). The organization represents the Independents’ interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community.

The organization’s board of directors are composed of the following: Razor & Tie President Craig Balsam, Concord Music Group President Glen Barros, Secretly Label Group Head of Domestic Sales & Marketing Cathy Bauer, Smithsonian Folkways Director of Marketing & Sales Richard Burgess, Epitaph/Anti- General Manager Dave Hansen, Hopeless Records Owner Louis Posen, Dualtone Music Group CEO/Co-Founder Scott Robinson, Kill Rock Stars Owner/President Portia Sabin, Glassnote Records General Manager Chris Scully, Ole SVP Digital Jim Selby and Tommy Boy Owner/CEO Thomas Silverman. A2IM’s president’s advisory committee is Loma Visa Recordings Label Manager Josh Berman, Mack Avenue Records President Denny Stilwell and Compass Records Group Co-Founder Garry West. A2IM’s Worldwide Independent Network lead representative is Wind-up Records General Manager Alan Galbraith.

For more information on A2IM, please visit a2im.org