Alligator Records founder and president Bruce Iglauer will receive the very first “Iconic Innovators” Award from AirPlay Direct, one of the leading secure digital file transfer systems for the music industry. AirPlay Direct president Michael Harnett explains that the award, new this year, “will be given to the AirPlay Direct member who best embraces the vision and opportunities that digital innovation in the music industry continues to create.”
Harnett says Iglauer was the first person who came to mind for this new award. “Bruce’s professional career is a road map for success and accomplishment. He is a passionate, committed and relevant leader in the ever evolving independent global music community. Bruce is undoubtedly an ‘Iconic Innovator,’ but more importantly he is the type of man that blazes trails and leads by example. Great pair of ears, great heart and a great partner.”
Iglauer is equally thrilled to be receiving the award, which comes with a $50,000 AirPlay Direct Marketing And Awareness campaign. “I’m extremely honored to receive the first ‘Iconic Innovators’ Award from AirPlay Direct. Although Alligator is over 40 years old, we’ve always tried to make sure that we stayed on the technological cutting edge. We were the first Blues label to manufacture compact discs in 1984. We were selling online from our own website twenty years ago, and we were among the first independent labels to commit to streaming services and download stores.”
“More recently,” Iglauer continues, “we began working with AirPlay Direct to deliver our music to radio and online programmers around the world. This has been a great decision for us, and the AirPlay Direct staff have been terrific to deal with. I also have to give kudos to Josh Lindner, Alligator’s Director of New Technology, who first connected Alligator and AirPlay Direct, as well as leading us to many other new technology opportunities.”
AirPlay Direct is a centralized, professional eco-system that connects artists, labels, radio stations, as well as equipment and services. All of their subscribers are qualified music industry participants. They have a national and international reach of 9,000+ radio station members in 90 countries with over 38,000 artist / label members. They give direct access to the primary target market of artists, musicians, labels, and radio stations of all musical genres.
