00:00And to present our first award, I'm thrilled to welcome Romain Le Bien, the Global Head of Music for Blue Weeks, and Andrea Clisson, CEO of TuneIn.
00:19Hi everyone. Well, it's a real pleasure and a real honor to be with you today and celebrate independent artists.
00:26Thanks to be able to welcome us.
00:29It's quite a year for us at Milestone. We're celebrating our 20th anniversary.
00:35We're also celebrating our 10th anniversary since we joined forces with TuneCore.
00:40And why we joined forces is exactly why we are here tonight to celebrate independent artists and to build something around them,
00:48to help them develop themselves with a lot of passion. So we share that passion, that vision, that vision.
00:53What I'm used to say is that we are actually entrepreneurs, helping other entrepreneurs to develop,
00:59because being an independent artist today, trying to answer questions was just raised,
01:03is first and foremost to be, to have the mindset of being an entrepreneur, to have the courage and the consistency to invest in his music,
01:11and to be willing to reach legumes. That's what we're trying to do today. They are to help them to do this.
01:17So I'm very proud because after 20 years, I believe it's a 2,000 people, a company. We operate in 50 different countries.
01:27We help artists to emerge every day. We help diversity because I think independence.
01:32Diversity comes a lot from independent artists, independent sector, independent people.
01:37So that's what we're here to do and we're going to continue to do this for the next 20 years.
01:41So on this quick note, I'm going to pass the mic to Andrea, who's been doing an amazing job with TuneCore
01:48and is going to celebrate a fantastic panel tonight. Thank you very much.
01:51Thank you so much, Rowan. And I just want to take a moment and congratulate all the opportunities in this room.
02:00Huge round of applause for all of you. You are incredible. And you're going to be celebrating because you are the ones that are championing independent music a bunch of worlds.
02:11So thank you for that. And like so many of the members that are in this room, for years to inform the nature of what they've worked to champion artists
02:23and to advocate for them to be able to succeed on their own terms. And what does that involve? Three things.
02:29For one, we helped them build a foundation. We were the finances and we developed their careers.
02:34And the recipient of tonight's Indie Trailblazer of the board is an artist who I'm just so proud of all the successes that he has had.
02:44a couple things to know before i bring him up on stage he has not just been releasing
02:49through judeburg for over a decade but he has also built a massive following that is deep
02:56is deeply deeply connected with all of his fans consistently in arenas around the world
03:03he repeatedly released music that has charted on railboards top 100
03:07project um and um he does all of this on his own terms with his vision of what exactly he believes
03:16in and he wants to do he is the epitome of a self-made artist extremely talented deeply
03:23committed to his art and he'll be aware of the business of his art and he puts in all of the
03:28hard work both on the artist side and the business side he is the true multi-hyphenate and innovator
03:35he started his own collective and record label he's a best-selling author of multiple books
03:42this year he made his hollywood acting debut yes another movie coming out this fall
03:50and he represents that independent artists pulled the industry uh pulled in the industry
03:57and has spent years carving out a truly unique path to success um his connection and commitment with
04:06his fans has helped him push the boundaries and what it means to really be an artist um as an example
04:12he has let his fans vote on what they want him to release text and um he also inspires other artists by literally
04:22posting screenshots of his true revenue literally starting from pennies up until the you know
04:30he makes a lot more than that uh and uh really just shows other artists that they can build a career on
04:38their own trucks um and if that's not all he has an incredible project coming out in two weeks on june
04:46june 27th called wild and it's already been building momentum with over half a million pre-sales on
04:52spotify more than 20 000 physical pre-sales of physical and his single crazy is rising steadily
05:01on the rhythmic radio so without further ado it is my deep honor to present the indy trailblazer award to russ
05:12wow an industry award i did not see that coming out to be honest um i don't want to drop it maybe i should go
05:34it offload it yeah i promise i won't try um first of all thank you bill warden uh for this award and
05:46thank you andrea and then tunecore i put out my first song in 2011 via tune group and what started
05:55off as a google search to figure out how to put our song on itunes has become a home for my independence
06:03and through independence we as artists no longer have to wait to be chosen we choose ourselves
06:13the record deal used to be the most powerful tool for an artist and now it's the direct to fan connection
06:20the shortest distance between us and that connection is not through a boardroom it's through authenticity
06:28it's through substance it's through showing up consistently that that requires freedom and for
06:37me independence is freedom it's freedom to experiment it's freedom to find yourself it's freedom to learn
06:45to inevitably have to try again after a misstep without the fear of being shelved or dropped because the
06:56trajectory of our career is no longer determined by a man in a suit it's determined by our resilience
07:03and man that freedom is just it's palpable when you're independent you know the freedom to even
07:12redefine what true recognition looks like as artists sometimes the pain of not being externally recognized
07:20blocks our ability to internally recognize ourselves which has happened to be more times than i'm proud to
07:26admit uh we end up making an enemy out of the validation we're seeking which is really just misplaced
07:36authority when you make the media publications uh even the fans the ultimate authority you start
07:45mistaking outside voices as the truth instead of realizing that your voice is what matters most
07:51it's okay to be and want to be recognized by others but not to the point that it stops you from recognizing
08:00yourself and with that being said though i want to take a second to thank the people who have recognized
08:09me my fans for showing up for every version of me even when i didn't know who that was and what that looked
08:16like my friends especially bukis who without you i would not be here my manager milan who man we've been
08:26through it uh my family uh my mom and dad are here which is just it's an incredible experience
08:37my girl who has helped me so much my therapist who can't be here but he will be getting a beautiful voice memo
08:45um and thank you billboard for seeing me um it's a beautiful reminder to stop and see myself so i
08:57appreciate it a lot thank you
