Indie Artists Receive +50% Of All GRAMMY Nominations For 5th Consecutive Year
A recent release by American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) recognized and congratulated the noteworthy talent coming from the independent music sector. For five years in a row, independent music labels and artists have received over 50% of all GRAMMY nominations – earning 219 nominations out of 404 non-producer category nominations (excluding the not-yet-announced Album of the Year nominations) for 2014. Independents earned nominations in key categories, including but not limited to Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Rock Performance, Best R&B Album, Best Rap Performance.
A2IM said "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."
Big Machine, Concord Music Group, eOne, Motéma Music, and Naxos led the charge for the A2IM community. Taylor Swift (Big Machine) received three nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance; Childish Gambino (Glassnote) received two nominations, including Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album; and Arctic Monkeys (Domino) 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."
