Geese and Oklou Lead the Night at the 2026 Libera Awards
The 15th Libera Awards, presented by Merlin and produced by A2IM and the Foundation for Independent Music, took place at Gotham Hall in New York City on Monday, initiating Indie Week events.
Geese received four awards, including Record of the Year and Breakthrough Artist for Getting Killed, as well as Best Alternative Rock Record and Marketing Genius for the same album.
Oklou earned four awards from five nominations, winning Best Pop, Best Electronic, Music Video of the Year for “viscus”, and Best Remix for “blade bird (Nick León Broward Mix)”.
MF DOOM’s Special Herbs was recognized with awards for Best Reissue and Creative Packaging, marking the second consecutive year the artist has been prominently featured at the ceremony.
Secretly Distribution was awarded both Distributor and Publisher of the Year. True Panther Records received six awards overall, including Label of the Year for companies with five or fewer employees.
Performances were given by Valerie June, Dawn Richard, Mdou Moctar (whose Tears of Injustice won Best Global Record), and Aaron Maine of Porches. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Terry McBride and Mark Jowett, co-founders of Nettwerk Music.
Rough Trade NYC was named Best Independent Record Store, a new category for this year’s awards.
Award Recipients:
- 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)
- Marketing Genius – Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan Records/Play It Again Sam)
- Best Pop Record – Oklou – choke enough (True Panther Records)
- Best Electronic Record – Oklou – choke enough (True Panther Records)
- Music Video of the Year – Oklou – “viscus” (True Panther Records)
- Best Reissue – MF DOOM – Special Herbs (Rhymesayers Entertainment/Metalface Records)
- Creative Packaging – MF DOOM – Special Herbs (Rhymesayers Entertainment/Metalface Records)
- Best Remix – Oklou – “blade bird (Nick León Broward Mix)” (True Panther Records)
- Best Folk Record – Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be a Good Time (Jagjaguwar)
- Best Country Record – Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista Recordings)
- Best Singer-Songwriter Record (tie) – Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline) / Annahstasia – Tether (drink sum wtr)
- Best American Roots Record – Hayden Pedigo – I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away (Mexican Summer)
- Best Rock Record – Wednesday – Bleeds (Dead Oceans)
- Best Punk Record – Lambrini Girls – Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang)
- Best Heavy Record – Model/Actriz – Pirouette (True Panther Records)
- Best Dance Record – Fcukers – “I Like It Like That” (Ninja Tune)
- Best Global Record – Mdou Moctar – Tears of Injustice (Matador Records)
- Best Jazz Record – Mei Semones – Animaru (Bayonet Records)
- Best Spiritual Record – Lecrae – Reconstruction (Reach Records)
- Best Blues Record – Antone’s 50th Allstars – The Last Real Texas Blues Album (New West Records)
- Best Latin Record – Lido Pimienta – La Belleza (ANTI-)
- Best Classical Record – Tiffany Poon – Nature (Pentatone)
- Best Outlier Record – Panda Bear – Sinister Grift (Domino)
- Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record – Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out (Clipse, under exclusive license to Roc Nation Distribution)
- Best R&B Record – Thundercat – “Children of the Baked Potato” (feat. Remi Wolf) (Brainfeeder)
- Best Soul/Funk Record – Mavis Staples – Sad and Beautiful World (ANTI-)
- Best Sync Usage – Wet Leg – “mangetout” (Heated Rivalry) (Domino)
- Best Record from Games & Interactive Media – C418 – Minecraft: Alpha + Beta (Box Set) (Ghostly International)
- Self-Released Record of the Year – Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (Post Atlantic)
- Best Independent Record Store – Rough Trade NYC
- Distributor of the Year – Secretly Distribution
- Label of the Year (15+ employees) – Partisan Records
- Label of the Year (6-14 employees) – Mexican Summer
- Label of the Year (5 or fewer employees) – True Panther Records
- Lifetime Achievement – Terry McBride & Mark Jowett (Nettwerk Music Group)
