The Libera Awards, sometimes referred to as The Libbys, are an annual awards ceremony organized by the
American Association of Independent Music
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
(A2IM). First hosted in 2012, the awards celebrate the
independent music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
community. The capstone of A2IM's Indie Week, an annual music business conference, the ceremony has been able to be viewed by the public since 2020.
The top-billed awards are generally Record of the Year and Best Live Act, in addition to Label of the Year, Best Sync Usage, and Video of the Year, among others. In addition to the awards which are voted on, A2IM annually confers the Lifetime Achievement and Independent Icon Awards to industry leaders and artists, respectively.
List of ceremonies
Award categories
Note: the names of most categories have been tweaked overtime with the most significant name changes indicated below. Updated 2022.
Artist-specific awards
* Best Live Act (2013–2014, 2016–)
* A2IM Humanitarian Award (2021–)
* Best Breakthrough Artist (2012–) (2012–2014: Up & Comer Award)
Former categories
* Road Warrior of the Year (2012–2016) (2013–2015: Hardest Working Artist; 2016: Into the Pit Award)
Record-specific awards
* Record of the Year (2012–)
* Self-Released Record of the Year (2022–)
* A2IM Artist Record of the Year Award (2021–) (honors self-released artists)
* Best Alternative Rock Record (2020–)
* Best Americana Record (2018–)
* Best Blues Record (2018–)
* Best Classical Record (2018–)
* Best Country Record (2018–)
* Best Dance Record (2022–)
* Best Electronic Record (2022–)
* Best Folk/Bluegrass Record (2020–)
* Best Heavy Record (2018, 2020–2021: Best Metal Record)
* Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record (2017–)
* Best Jazz Record (2018–)
* Best Latin Record (2018–)
* Best Outlier Record (2018–)
* Best Pop Record (2022–)
* Best Punk Record (2020–) (2020: Best Punk/Emo Album)
* Best R&B Record (2018–)
* Best Re-Issue (2018–)
* Best Rock Record (2018–) (2020: Best Mainstream Rock Album)
* Best Spiritual Record (2021–)
* Best World Record (2018–)
Former categories
* Groundbreaking Album of the Year (2015–2016)
* Heritage Album of the Year (2015–2016)
* Shifting Beats Award (2016)
* Best Blues/Jazz/R&B Album (2017)
* Best Classical/World Album (2017)
* Best Country/Americana/Folk Album (2017)
* Best Dance/Electronic Record (2017–2021)
* Best Metal/Hard Rock Album (2017)
* Best Indie Rock Album (2017)
Industry awards
* Best Sync Usage (2012–)
* Video of the Year (2012–)
* Marketing Genius (2012–) (2012–2014: Light Bulb Award)
* Creative Packaging (2012–)
* Independent Champion (2012–) (2012–2013: 21st Century Award; 2014: Independent Ally of the Year; 2015: Marketplace Ally)
* Label of the Year (Small) (2012–)
* Label of the Year (Medium) (2019–) (2012–2018: combined into Indie Label (6 employees or more))
* Label of the Year (Big) (2019–) (2012–2018: combined into Indie Label (6 employees or more))
Former categories
* Music Supervisor (2012–2014)
* A&R Team of the Year (2016)
* Video of the Year (Fan Vote) (2017)
Special awards
A2IM Lifetime Achievement Award
This award was first presented at the inaugural Libera Awards to honor contributions by industry leaders in independent music.
* 2012:
Martin Mills
Martin Mills (born 12 May 1949) is the founder and chairman of the Beggars Group.
Early life
Mills grew up near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and comes from an "upper-middle-class English family". His father was a civil servant and his mother was as ...
Tom Silverman
Tom Silverman is an American entertainment executive. He is most notable for founding the pioneering hip-hop and electro-funk music label, Tommy Boy Records, now known as Tommy Boy Entertainment.
Early life and education
Silverman grew up in Whi ...
, founder of
Tommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital U ...
Mike Curb
Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944) is an American musician, record company executive, motorsports car owner, philanthropist, and former politician. He is also the founder of Curb Records where he presently serves as the chairman. Curb also ...
, founder of
Curb Records
Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of ...
* 2017:
Ani DiFranco
Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums.
DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influe ...
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...
and co-founder of
Anti-
Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...
* 2019:
Jonathan Poneman
Jonathan Poneman is an American record executive and co-founder of two record labels: Sub Pop and Hardly Art.
Early life and education
The third child of Harold and Beverly Poneman, Jonathan Poneman was born October 9, 1959 in Toledo, Ohio and g ...
, co-founder of
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...
This award was first presented at the 2016 Libera Awards to honor a "groundbreaking Independent artists who have contributed to the Independent community and have paved the way for future Independents to succeed on their own terms." In 2015, it was presented as the Appleseed Award.
* 2015: Alison Wenham ( Worldwide Independent Network)
*2016: Naughty By Nature
* 2017:
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,
* 2018:
Funky 4 + 1
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...
* 2019: NPR (combined with Independent Champion Award)
* 2020: John Prine,
Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk ...
Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Durin ...
Independent Impact Award
Formally titled the A2IM Independent Impact Award (as of 2021) this award honors the independent artist with the highest combined sales and streams as measured by Nielsen Music across all of the artist's commercial releases in the U.S. between a yearlong period.
* 2017: Florida Georgia Line – ''
Dig Your Roots
''Dig Your Roots'' is the third studio album by American country music duo Florida Georgia Line. The album was released on August 26, 2016, by Big Machine and Big Loud Mountain. As with their first two albums, it is produced by Joey Moi. The tw ...
'' (
Big Machine Label Group
Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...
)
* 2018:
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
– '' Reputation'' (Big Machine Label Group)
* 2019: Was not awarded
* 2020: Was not awarded
* 2021: TBD