Though major labels won about 85 percent of the awards at the Grammys on Sunday, the indies make their mark at the Grammys, winning three out of the 20 popular categories.
Aphex Twin won best Dance/Electronic album for Syro, over Little Dragon, Deadmau5, Mat Zo, and Röyksopp & Robyn. This is especially impressive because Syro, released by Warp Records and distributed by Redeye, is the only winner of these three categories that has no attachment to a major label.
Jack White’s Lazaretto, released by Third Man Records (licensed to Sony’s Columbia Records) won best rock performance.
The Band Perry’s “Gentle on My Mind” from the Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me EP soundtrack won best country duo/group performance. The album was released under Big Machine Records, which is distributed by Universal Music Group.
In other categories, independent labels won 20 out of the 50 most associated with recorded music and record labels. Indie had four wins in jazz, with Concord Jazz being the only independent winner with more than one win. Other wins included categories of bluegrass, folk, blues, world and Americana.
