Independent Music Takes 50% of GRAMMY Awards

Independent music reigned at the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards taking home 50 percent of the evening's honors, the highest percentage of wins since A2IM began tracking the awards in 2006. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took home awards in four categories, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Album, for their independently released album, 'The Heist.' Accepting one of his GRAMMYs, Macklemore said, "we made it independently and appreciate all the support." A2IM voting members had previously honored Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with a "Video of the Year" award at the organization's 2013 Libera Awards.

Leading all independent labels, Concord Music Group artists took home six GRAMMY Awards including Best Blues Album, Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best American Roots Song. Concord President Glen Barros expressed his honor and appreciation, "To all our GRAMMY winning artists and nominees, I'm so glad that GRAMMY Love Has Come For You. It's time to Get Up! Spread your Wings and celebrate! Congratulations to all. It's a great honor to work with such amazing talent."

XL Recording's Kris Chen said of Vampire Weekend's win for Best Alternative Album, "XL Recordings is so proud of Vampire Weekend for their GRAMMY win. They created the best album of their career so far, and certainly the best album released last year."”

Said Naxos USA CEO Jeff Van Driel, who counted two label GRAMMYs and two more for projects distributed by Naxos: "It no longer seems to be a question of whether independent labels will fare well at the GRAMMY Awards. To that point, the Naxos of America distribution family includes hundreds of independent classical, world, and jazz labels that continue to get the attention of the Academy voters and this year is no exception. We are proud of all of our nominees and winners and look forward to more years of GRAMMY success.”

A2IM Vice President Jim Mahoney remarked of Independent music's strong showing at the 56th annual GRAMMYs: "Independents take the risks, start every music trend, every new genre but sometimes it’s easy to forget that independents also bring the hits. From Macklemore to Vampire Weekend to all of the important genre category winners who make music listening so much more rich and interesting, A2IM thanks the GRAMMY voters for providing the ultimate level playing field recognizing the independent contribution with 50 percent of the Awards presented tonight."”

This year marked the sixth consecutive year that independent labels and artists led the industry with 50 percent of all nominations, earning 199 of 398 non-producer nominations.

About A2IM:

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 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 is composed of the following: Concord Records President Glenn Barros; Daptone Records General Manager Cathy Bauer; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Director of Marketing & Sales Richard James Burgess; 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; Glassnote Records General Manager Chris Scully; Ole SVP Jim Selby; Dead Oceans/Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian Founder/Co-Owner Darius Van Arman; Razor & Tie COO Victor Zaraya.

For more information, or to become a member, please visit http://a2im.org/