Media

Milana Rabkin Lewis, founder of Stem, gives closing remarks at Billboard’s Indie Power Players 2024 event.

Hannah Karp
A woman who is one of the most incredible leaders in the music business and an incredible supporter of indie artists, Milana Rabkin Lewis, the founder of Stem.

Milana Rabkin Lewis
Thank you, Billboard, for having me tonight, and I just want to say congratulations to Brent and Ty and Jane and the whole culture. It is so amazing to watch you guys be honored for everything you have built over the last decade. And it’s been incredible having a front-row seat at watching what has happened. And this moment is one that is amazing. And for those of you who do not know the story behind these guys, you should study it, because they have literally written the playbook on what it means to be an independent company and support independent artists. And the theme of what I want to say as we close out this wonderful evening and celebration is really around being able to take calculated risks, as all of you know, life in the music business as an independent artist or an executive demands tenacity and courage, and it’s really the true pulse of innovation in this industry that beats the most strongly within the hearts of the independent artists, managers, entrepreneurs and executives, individuals like those honored here tonight and those tirelessly working around the globe, the risk that we have taken to build something that does not fit within a mold is really worth celebrating, and together, we’re up against a lot of the themes that we’ve talked about the behemoths of the majors and their indie offshoots, who sometimes masquerade as independents themselves, and artists and labels who really face a tough decision around whether or not they maintain their autonomy or succumb to the allure of the biggest paycheck available. And it’s a delicate balance between creative freedom and financial security, each with presenting its path and its own set of challenges and opportunities across the spectrum of risk.

Watch the full video above!

Laurie Anderson accepts the Artist Indie Icon award from Justin Kalifowitz at Billboard’s Indie Power Players 2024 event.

Justin Kaliforwitz
Please join me in giving a big round of applause to the 2024 Billboard Indie Icon Laurie Anderson.

Laurie Anderson
I’m really overwhelmed. Thank you so much. Great to be here. I just want to play a little short song for you and it’s, I’m a violinist, and I also work with a lot of technology, but I always wanted to sing like a violin, so I finally figured out how to do this. And this is, it involves this thing called a pillow speaker. The pillow speaker is the thing that you put in your pillow at night so you can, like, learn foreign languages in your sleep. This never worked for me. I just woke up feeling, like, super paranoid, yeah. Anyway, so I figured out how to do this. And because I I’m kind of an oral person, I like putting electronics in my mouth. So this is how this goes. Oh, you just want to say, whoa, I wanted to say one more thing. I was in Miami, and I decided to do this song, so I was reversing it in a hotel room, but it was kind of an old speaker, so the battery acid was leaking out of the speaker, and this thing got stuck to the roof of my mouth like this. And I was like, the roof of my mouth is being eaten away by battery acid. This is like. So I ran. I ran to the elevator, down to the street. Found a pharmacy. I ran to the pharmacy with this cable hanging out of my mouth. And the pharmacist was so cool. He just took a Q-Tip. He went, you know, no questions asked. Anyway. Thank you so much for this wonderful honor, and thanks for being here. It’s really fun to meet all of you.

R&B star Brent Fayiaz presents his manager Ty Baisden with the Executive of the Year award at Billboard’s Indie Power Players 2024 event.

Hannah Karp
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the incredible Brent Faiyaz.

Brent Faiyaz
What’s up with y’all? Let me, uh, Let me first off thank the staff and everyone at Billboard for allowing me to grace that cover. I really appreciate y’all, but make some noise for being in this room. You know, everybody here, make some noise for yourself for being here. I didn’t prepare no speech … and, you know, we independent, so we roll with the punches and sh– like that. But I’m gonna just say one thing. It’s one thing you feel me for people to love what you do and appreciate your art and what you put out, and it’s another to be acknowledged amongst your peers, and that’s what this is right here. So let me, let me acknowledge my brother, Ty Baisden for Executive of the Year.

Ty Baisden
Just like my brother, I did not prepare a speech, but I do want to thank first God. I want to thank my mom, my family, culture. I want to thank Malana at STEM. I want to thank Troy at Venice and the entire Billboard team for really taking the time out and honor us in a really great way and, yeah, that’s pretty much it, man, stay independent.