2022 A2IM Libera Awards

The American Association of Independent Music opened its submissions for the 2022 Libera Awards on Monday Sept. 13. The awards honour the best acts in the indie music scene. The show is scheduled to take place on June 16, 2022.

A2IM also announced the addition of of three new categories: best heavy record, best pop record, and best self-released record of the year.

The self-released record of the year underscores “the entrepreneurial and organizational prowess of artists who release music without label support,” the organization notes in a statement. The submission must be fully self-released by an individual artist or group; records co-released with record labels or as a subsidiary of a parent company are not eligible.

In addition, the best dance/electronic record has been split up into best dance record and best electronic record.

Returning categories of note include best outlier award and best reissue record. The best outlier award aims to recognize records that don’t fit into another category, such as spoken word, comedy and psychedelic hyperpop. The best reissue record honors music that was initially released at least five years ago.