Adele and Frank Turner won two trophies each at last night’s inaugural AIM Awards.
The climate for independent music is more intimidating than ever. The growth of the internet has fundamentally shifted the way the industry operates, with the recently Sony DADC warehouse fire causing chaos.
However last night (November 10th) saw the Association of Independent Music reward some of the year’s big hitters. AIM held its first ever Independent Music Awards, taking place at Soho’s Floridita.
Hosted by 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, the inaugural event saw live performances from Fife troubadour James Yorkston, punk poet Frank Turner and human sampler Beardyman.
Big winners on the night included Adele, who won two awards. The soulful singer has picked up a number of trophies lately, with the clip for ‘Rolling In The Deep’ recently named the UK Video of the year.
At the AIM Awards the singer scooped ‘Best Difficult Second Album’ and ‘PPL Award for Most Played Independent Artist’. Signed to XL, Adele still qualifies as an independent artist, despite her overwhelming success.
Frank Turner also won two awards, ending his breakthrough year on a high. The acoustic clad punk waltzed away with ‘Best Live Act’ and ‘Hardest Working Artist’ while Turner also performed on the night.
Other notable winners included Domino founder Lawrence Bell, who gathered the ‘Pioneer Award’. Remaining a dynamic, influential voice in independent music Domino has been responsible for countless fantastic releases.
Any label with room for both Arctic Monkeys and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy on its roster must be worthy of recognition…
The full list of winners is as follows:
Independent Entrepreneur of the Year
Rob da Bank (Sunday Best Recordings / Bestival / Camp Bestival / AIF / Radio 1)
Best Difficult Second Album
21 – Adele (XL)
Catalogue Release of the Year
Matador at 21 – Various Artists (Matador Records)
Best Small Label
Stolen Recordings
Hardest Working Artist
Frank Turner (Xtra Mile)
Innovative Marketing Campaign of the Year
Ninja Tune – ‘Ninja Tune XX’ campaign
Independent Breakthrough of the Year
SBTRKT (XL)
Indie Champion
John Robb, Louder Than War
Golden Welly Award for Best Independent Festival
Bearded Theory
PPL Award for Most Played Independent Artist
Adele (XL)
Best Live Act
Frank Turner
Pioneer Award
Laurence Bell (Domino)
Outstanding Contribution to Music
Bjork (One Little Indian)
