Grammys sing praises of indie labels: ; Arcade Fire won best album of the year, record number of other bands nominated for awards

LOS ANGELES - Independent labels are reveling in their successafter grabbing the spotlight and many of the biggest awards at theGrammys. It marked one of the biggest nights in years for indies,setting the stage for a surge in their online music sales.

Meanwhile, the rest of music industry is trying to figure out ifthe unsung acts from smaller labels are winning major awards becauseof the viral nature of the Internet - or in spite of it.

The presence of the indies during the annual awards show hasgrown in recent years as more bands appeal to fans directly throughFacebook and YouTube instead of traditional sales channels.

A record number of nominations this year and the most wins in twoyears proved that a good band can break out despite lacking theresources of a major recording company.

"This was a major, major night for the independents," said DanielGlass, CEO of Glassnote Records, whose band Mumford & Sons performedduring the show and was nominated for best new artist but didn'twin.

Canadian indie band Arcade Fire won for album of the year - anunprecedented third straight time an indie label act has taken thetop crown. In all, independent label artists won awards in 45 of 108categories, the most since 2008, and they accounted 273 of the 542nominations, up from 231 three years ago, according to the AmericanAssociation of Independent Music.

Despite the critical acclaim, just 11 percent of the music soldlast year came from artists signed to labels other than the majorsUniversal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music GroupCorp. and EMI Group Ltd., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The relative obscurity of some acts left some Twitter postersstunned ("Album of the year goes to who ?" one tweeted) but with484,000 albums sold since "The Suburbs" was released in August,according to SoundScan, Arcade Fire has a solid following.

"There's a lot of great music being made outside of the majorlabel system," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. "It'screated a window of opportunity for some very independent, forward-thinking, risk-taking entrepreneurs."

The most stunning victor of the night may have been EsperanzaSpalding, a little known but well-loved jazz bassist and vocalistwho topped Justin Bieber, the teen sensation with a half billionvideo views, for best new artist.

Spalding's Concord Music Group, among the largest of theindependent labels with more than $100 million in annual revenue,said votes might have split among the other popular nominees,Bieber, Drake, Florence + The Machine, and Mumford & Sons, allowinghis star to shine.

"I think the truly sophisticated voters, the member base of (TheRecording Academy) ... had no choice but to vote for her. This is anartist that really has undeniable talent and superior musicianship,"said Concord's chief label officer, Gene Rumsey.

Portnow insists that the system set up for the Grammys' 12,000voting members helps prevent results that only favor the mostpopular artists. Major labels have too few qualified votingproducers to guarantee wins for their artists, and artists tend notto vote in lock-step with their label mates, he said.

Instead, all of the voters gain equal access to the nominees'music online on a password-protected site. Sometimes during alistening session, the cream can unexpectedly rise to the top, hesaid.

For independent labels, a win can be transformative.

Google was flooded with "Esperanza Spalding" searches after herwin was announced. Online album sales hit 3,000 over 12 hours onSunday night up from an average of 300 the previous week, accordingto Mike Gillespie, Concord's senior vice president of sales. Thecompany plans to ship up to 100,000 physical CDs this week, up fromthe normal 2,000 to 3,000 discs, as stores like Best Buy stock up onthe winners. If sold, the amount would more than triple her sales sofar.

Arcade Fire's Durham, N.C.-based indie label, Merge Records, wasso unprepared for the win that its founders Mac McCaughan and LauraBallance, of the band Superchunk, were in Japan on tour and didn'tattend the live show.

Merge publicist Christina Rentz said there was virtually nocampaigning for Grammy votes aside from a small ad in Billboardmagazine.

"We don't play the game. We don't know how it's played. And thishappened," she said. "Hopefully it'll encourage musicians to knowthat you can do it your way and have recognition from the bigwigs."

Courtney Holt, the president of MySpace Music and a voting memberof the Academy, vouched for the legitimacy of the Grammy system. Hethinks the ballot serves as a gut check among fellow artists, whoaren't as swayed by what music is selling the most.

Holt hailed Arcade Fire as a "band's band" that earned therespect of other musicians. The group represented the closest thingto the archetypal rock band in a category whose other nominees wereEminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Given thepopularity of those artists, Arcade Fire also probably won supportfor being the underdogs.

"People talk about the rise of independents in the modern musicbusiness," Holt said. "Maybe this is an example of that beingcelebrated."

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Win Butler, center, is joined by fellow bandmembers of Arcade Fire to accept the award for album of the year atthe 53rd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.