TMN Tinnies: Indie Label of the Year nominees

As we near closer to Australia’s free music business awards event, it’s time to take a look at another category filled with hard workers. Being an independent label has its challenges, but plenty of names have risen to the occasion over the last 12 months – which is why they’re nominated for Indie Label of the Year at the TMN Tinnies.

The final winner will be announced as one of the eight TMN Tinniesawards handed outon Friday,February 2.

Golden Era Records

Founded by The Hilltop Hoods, Golden Era hasbecome known as the label for nurturing Australian hip-hop acts. And the investment in artists is paying off, with A.B Original picking up five nominations and two wins at 2017’s ARIA Awards, including Best Independent Release.

The group’s debut recordReclaim Australiawas also widely recognised by the industry, with nods including triple j’s Album of the Year JAward, six gongs at the South Australian Music Awards and Breakthrough Independent Artist Of The Year at the Australian Independent Music Awards.

Liberation Records

With the likes ofVance Joy, D.D Dumbo, Slum Sociable and Gordi on the books, Liberation are bracing themselve for a big year ahead. Coming off the back of plenty of radio play, combined with some early recognition at last year’s ARIA Awards, 2018 will see a new album from heavyhitter Vance Joy and an appearance at coveted music conference SXSW forSlum Sociable.

UNIFIED

A more unified (pun intended) approach to the business saw a slight name change to the labelmid-2017 – but that didn’t deter them from losing focus on some outstanding acts.

Trophy Eyes wrapped up their North American headline tour (a very successful year) and Northlane picked up an ARIA Award, while the label also added more exciting acts (including Didirri) and joint ventureTHAA Records with The Hills Are Alive Groupto their books.

etcetc

Picking up a special mention in TMN’s 2017 year-end Singles Report, etcetc show signs of going from strength to strength in the next 12 months.

TMN Charts Editor Peter Tuskan wrote: “Part of the TMRW Music group, etc experienced a strong year thanks to the resurgence ofPNAUand a big contribution from UK actJax Jones. ‘Chameleon’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me’ ft.RAYEsaw the label take just under 5% of the Hot 40 market share, and 3% of the Hot 100″.

This year is already off to a great start for the label, thanks to triple j adding FISHER’s latest track ’Stop It’ to their playlist this week.

Hillsong Music Australia

Hillsong Music Australia are powering on into 2018 with a Grammy nomination for the single ‘What A Beautiful Name’ written by songwriters Brooke Fraser and Ben Fielding.It first appeared on the annual Worship album of 2016 – Let There Be Light –peaking at #2 on the ARIA Albums Charts and reaching #1 in the US.

The church’s Young & Free and UNITED bands continue to be leading exports for Australian music. Y&F released sophomore LPYouth Revival in 2016, and more recently, UNITED put forth their fifth studio album Wonder in 2017. Both albums featured on ARIA’s year-end chart of 2017 at #98 and #72, respectively.