{"id":696130,"date":"2026-06-10T18:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696130\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T18:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T18:34:14","slug":"raye-more-honored-at-billboards-2026-indie-power-players-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/696130\/","title":{"rendered":"RAYE & More Honored at Billboard\u2019s 2026 Indie Power Players Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Tuesday (June 9), Billboard honored this year\u2019s Indie Power Players during an event held at the Cutting Room in midtown Manhattan, celebrating many of the independent music industry\u2019s top artists and music executives.<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard co-chief content officers Jason Lipshutz and Leila Cobo kicked off the evening, highlighting how indie music\u2019s market sector has continued to expand over recent years.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Indie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMany of the world\u2019s biggest artists are signed to indie labels,\u201d Cobo said. \u201cSome of them are here in the house. And, more importantly, what you do is really fueling creativity and musicianship at a very essential and existential time for music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tZena White, COO of Partisan Records, accepted the award for Executive of the Year<\/a>, which was presented to her by Femi Koleoso, the drummer and leader of British jazz group Ezra Collective<\/a>. The group has had two top 10 hits on Billboard\u2019s Contemporary Jazz Albums<\/a> chart with 2019\u2019s You Can\u2019t Steal My Joy and 2024\u2019s Dance No Ones Watching. Partisan is also the label home to Geese, Cigarettes After Sex, Blondshell and Interpol, among many others.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYour belief and support is allowing us to scale and genuinely compete with established players with much bigger pockets than us,\u201d White said in her acceptance speech. \u201cArt is not a luxury. It\u2019s necessary for us to connect with and understand one another, as well as ourselves. It can be a balm, an escape and in some cases, even a lifesaver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCobo presented Rub\u00e9n Blades<\/a> with the Icon Artist award.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"From<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cMy decision to come to New York was a product of desperation, not careful planning,\u201d Blades said in his acceptance speech. \u201cMy first job was as the only employee in the mailroom finding records at the No. 1 salsa recording label in the world. One of my chores was to label and carry a hefty load of LPs and cassettes to the nearest post office while trying to avoid being run over by a bus, taxi or messenger bicycle. To explain how from there I have ended up here tonight will take a while. So instead, my intention is to let everyone understand that my success also belongs to many other people\u2019s talents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRichard Gottehrer, co-founder of The Orchard, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by current Orchard CEO Brad Navin. Gottehrer detailed his early career as a songwriter, creating \u201cMy Boyfriend\u2019s Back\u201d along with Jerry Goldstein, who was also in the room. Gottehrer recalled that, during a downturn in his career where his songs weren\u2019t charting, \u201cif you\u2019re not making hits, no one wants to hire you anymore.\u201d He said how his mother wanted him to go to law school, but he found himself on the Lower East Side in Manhattan in front of a storefront on Orchard Street \u2014 which became the first office of what is now the biggest indie label distribution company in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom the beginning, all we cared about was bringing independent music to the world \u2014\u00a0anywhere in the world, it makes no difference,\u201d Gottenhrer said. \u201cWhat language you sing makes no difference. Music is a shared culture that breaks down barriers between people. The Orchard stands for that, believes in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBillboard Indie Power Players cover artist RAYE<\/a> was honored with the Indie Spirit Award. RAYE has had three songs enter the Billboard Hot 100<\/a>, including 2025\u2019s \u201cWhere Is My Husband!\u201d which peaked at No. 11 on the chart. Her most recent album, This Music May Contain Hope, peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200<\/a>, a career milestone for the wildly talented singer and songwriter whose journey through the major label system to independence has been one of the most intriguing stories in music.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"RAYE<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201c[RAYE] is a wildly talented singer and songwriter whose career faced years of trials and tribulations, the product of an imperfect major label system that she eventually rejected,\u201d Lipshutz said while presenting RAYE with the award. \u201cThe fact that she has gone on to score huge hits, played to sprawling audiences, and released one of the most ambitious albums of any genre this year all as an independent pop superstar is both a miraculous feat of professional reinvention and a foregone conclusion for an artist bursting with ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her own speech<\/a>, which captivated everyone in the room with its inspirational tone, RAYE was effusive about her indie label, Human ReSources, and its founder J Erving, who believed in her when many in the industry had said her career was over.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just want to encourage us to ignore the lies, ignore people that don\u2019t need to have an opinion over what you are, who you can be and what you\u2019re gonna do,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get to decide that. So let\u2019s keep deciding to make art that inspires us. Maybe it\u2019s seven minutes long, I don\u2019t care. I like it, I believe in it, and that\u2019s what I want to spend my life doing. I\u2019m so grateful, so grateful, that after 14 years in this industry since I started as a songwriter at 14, I really feel like we\u2019re just doing it now. I\u2019m so grateful to J, Human Re Sources, The Orchard and independent artists, come on, let\u2019s go! Thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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