The Voice of Independent Labels

The music industry is not just about fun and entertainment. It’s not even just about the music and what celebrities do in their free time. The business side is just as important. So like any other business, the music industry has a trade organization. Some may not know about it, others may be well aware of it. It’s called the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).

The A2IM is a not-for-profit organization that supports and promotes the independent music sector. According to their mission statement, independent music represents “34.5% of the music industry’s market share in the United States (and approximately 40% of SoundScan digital music sales.” Their objective is to not allow independent artists to get overlooked and denied similar opportunities as the artists that are on major labels. More specifically, the objectives of this association are to protect the independent labels in several categories.

·      Fair Trade: achieving commercial success and leveling the playing field with the competing major labels

·      New Technology and Distribution: receiving the same opportunities to take advantage of available new technology and distribution channels

·      Access to Media: pushing for independent labels to receive airplay on the media channels and reminding these media outlets that airwaves are based on diversity and public trust, and therefore should receive fair treatment

·      Legislative: giving the labels a voice when it comes to government and legislative issues

·      Advocacy: developing a structure for sharing information and opportunities to advance

·      International: helping the independent sector to reach international levels through trade negotiations and promoting international visibility

·      Purchasing: discovering ways to create favorable pricing opportunities

·      New Business: creating support and sponsorship opportunities through advertising, internet streamers, distributors, and downstream users of music

·      Branding: raising the perception of the “Indie” brand to parallel the success of the competing major labels.

The 2012 LIBBY Awards

In accordance with their mission and objectives, A2IM has created a way to celebrate and honor independent artists and their successes. The awards ceremony they hold, the Libera Awards (aka LIBBYs), are held annually and strive to make sure the money, time, and self-investments of independent labels are recognized. This is also a way for fans to engage and share in the successes of the artists they love. The name Libera comes from a Latin phrase that means independent, free, and unrestricted. Seeing this as more than a music celebration, A2IM takes advantage of this program to also recognize the fact that as independents, they are free from certain major label restrictions and constrictions.

The awards ceremony of 2012 was the first annual show. It recognized influential people and companies such as Ninja Tune, Bon Iver, Martin Mills, Daptone Records, and Spotify. Awards ceremonies and this association in general helps strengthen the Indie label brand by recognizing the contributions they make to the music industry and the equality of talent. The strength of this sector is only growing, allowing for more independent labels to enter the industry and increase the Indie market share and creating true competition with the major labels.

The Perk of Being Awesome

My favorite word happens to be the word awesome. It sums up what I want to be and how I want to feel. Plus, I just like saying it. As I was going through the inspirational talks on Ted.com, I saw the title The 3 A’s of Awesome and immediately knew that this was the speech I had to watch. Neil Pasricha, a regular guy who developed a new perception of life’s little things after going through adversity between 2008 and 2009, gave the speech. He dealt with marital issues and his wife telling him she doesn’t love him anymore, and the suicide of a close friend. What he wanted everyone to understand is that there will be good times of love and success and happiness, but there will also be those unpleasant times that we don’t want to think about.

Pasricha’s three A’s of awesome are designed to help you overcome and move on. The first one is attitude. You have two choices when it comes to a rough situation. You can wallow and succumb to circumstances or you can have a grieving period, then move on and make the best of a bad situation. The second A is for awareness. Awareness means to embrace the inner 3 year old and learn to see things as if you are seeing them for the first time. The final A, authenticity, is all about being yourself and knowing that that is good enough. Being yourself will ultimately lead to you following your hear and putting yourself in situations and around people and in places that you love.

The hardships that Pasricha experiences, combined with his commitment to fighting tough times with positivity lead to the creation of his blog, 1000 Awesome Things. Eventually the blog received so many hits that he received a Webby Award for the “Best Blog Award.” The award then lead to him receiving a book deal in which he wrote a book called The Book of Awesome (look inside on Amazon), dedicated to the same positive outlook on life. Enjoying life’s simple pleasures and taking comfort in things we tend to overlook, things like the bakery smell in the air or rain hair, and popping bubble wrap or taking an illegal nap. The book was a #1 best seller for 20 weeks.

I was truly inspired by Pasricha’s speech. I have, much like most people, experienced hard times, and when listening to him, it’s easy to put yourself in the situation and take away good advice. He used humor to engage the audience. I know I found myself laughing out loud a lot when he was talking about his parent’s culture shock in Canada and him and his friend’s big heads blocking the pictures of seals they were trying to show off. Life is all about growing yourself and staying positive (like this blog). The truth is, we aren’t on this earth for very long so now is the time enjoy every moment of life that you can. Words of advice from Neil Pasricha, “you’ll never be as young as you are right now.”