Geese, Oklou Lead Winners at 2026 Libera Awards

Independent music’s biggest night belonged to Geese and Oklou. The Foundation for Independent Music and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) handed out 38 trophies during the 2026 Libera Awards at New York’s Gotham Hall on Monday (June 8), with Geese taking home three of the night’s most prominent honors and Oklou emerging as another major winner.

Hosted by Delisa Shannon, the ceremony featured performances from Mdou Moctar, Valerie June, Dawn Richard and Porches’ Aaron Maine. Industry veterans Terry McBride and Mark Jowett, co-founders of Nettwerk Music Group, were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Rough Trade NYC received the inaugural award for Best Independent Record Store.

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Geese’s acclaimed Partisan Records effort Getting Killed was named Record of the Year and Best Alternative Rock Record, while the band also claimed the Breakthrough Artist prize. Oklou’s choke enough won both Best Electronic Record and Best Pop Record, while her Nick León-assisted reworking of “blade bird” earned Best Remix and the video for “viscus” was named Music Video of the Year.

Elsewhere, Clipse continued its comeback run with Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record for Let God Sort Em Out, Wednesday’s Bleeds took Best Rock Record and Hayden Pedigo earned Best American Roots Record honors for I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away.

Among the business-side winners, Partisan was named Label of the Year (15+ employees), Mexican Summer won the mid-sized label category and True Panther Records took the prize for labels with five employees or fewer. Secretly Distribution was named Distributor of the Year, while its related company Secretly Publishing earned Publisher of the Year.

“The Liberas are unique in celebrating not just the best in music across multiple genres, but also the people and companies who put their passion and creativity in supporting these tremendous artists,” A2IM CEO Ian Harrison says. “These nominees and winners embody the innovation, creativity and authenticity that are the lifeblood of our industry.”

Record of the Year: Geese, Getting Killed (Partisan Records / Play It Again Sam)
Breakthrough Artist: Geese (Partisan Records / Play It Again Sam)
Best Alternative Rock Record: Geese, Getting Killed (Partisan Records / Play It Again Sam)
Best American Roots Record: Hayden Pedigo, I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away (Mexican Summer)
Best Blues Record: Antone’s 50th Allstars, The Last Real Texas Blues Album (New West Records)
Best Classical Record: Tiffany Poon, Nature (Pentatone)
Best Country Record: Margo Price, Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista Recordings)
Best Dance Record: Fcukers, “I Like It Like That” (Ninja Tune)
Best Electronic Record: Oklou, choke enough (True Panther Records)
Best Folk Record: Folk Bitch Trio, Now Would Be a Good Time (Jagjaguwar)
Best Global Record: Mdou Moctar, Tears of Injustice (Matador Records)
Best Heavy Record: Model/Actriz, Pirouette (True Panther Records)
Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record: Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out (Clipse / Roc Nation Distribution)
Best Jazz Record: Mei Semones, Animaru (Bayonet Records)
Best Latin Record: Lido Pimienta, La Belleza (ANTI-)
Best Outlier Record: Panda Bear, Sinister Grift (Domino)
Best Pop Record: Oklou, choke enough (True Panther Records)
Best Punk Record: Lambrini Girls, Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang)
Best R&B Record: Thundercat, “Children of the Baked Potato” feat. Remi Wolf (Brainfeeder)
Best Rock Record: Wednesday, Bleeds (Dead Oceans)
Best Singer-Songwriter Record: Ichiko Aoba, Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline) and Annahstasia, Tether (drink sum wtr) (tie)
Best Soul/Funk Record: Mavis Staples, Sad and Beautiful World (ANTI-)
Best Spiritual Record: Lecrae, Reconstruction (Reach Records)
Best Reissue: MF DOOM, Special Herbs (Rhymesayers Entertainment / Metalface Records)
Best Creative Packaging: MF DOOM, Special Herbs (Rhymesayers Entertainment / Metalface Records)
Music Video of the Year: Oklou, “viscus” (True Panther Records)
Best Independent Record Store: Rough Trade NYC
Label of the Year (15+): Partisan Records
Label of the Year (6-14): Mexican Summer
Label of the Year (5 or fewer): True Panther Records
Distributor of the Year: Secretly Distribution
Publisher of the Year: Secretly Publishing

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

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