Independent labels win just as many Grammys as major competitors; just ask Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Inevitably, following the Grammys, some critics will complain that the legitimacy of the awards is in question because all the prizes go to big, corporate, mainstream acts. And then, again inevitably, another group of critics will single out the night's biggest winners, and call them out for being purveyors of big, corporate, mainstream music. Unfortunately for you, cynics, both of those approaches are null this year.

First of all, a majority of this year's winners were not from major labels. In fact, this year featured exactly the same amount of winners from majors and independents. Second of all, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis-the main victims of ire following the ceremony, thanks to their four wins (second only to Daft Punk)-were the best represented of the the independent side, having released The Heist on their own label, the creatively titled Macklemore LLC.

The 50-50 split may seem shocking, considering the constant Taylor-Swift-Kanye-West-Miley-Cyrus cycle of that media seems to follow. But independent records actually made up a significant chunk of all Grammy nominations for 2014. The proportion lives up to the final wins tally, as 199 of the total nominations for non-production Grammys went to independents.

What they don't tell you is that a record can still be considered independent even if it gets help promoting the album from a major. For example, Macklemore & Lewis had help from Warner Music's radio division in the promotion of hit singles "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us." Another fact that skews the results are what genres win for what awards. Obviously Macklemore took prizes for some relevant categories, but many of the independent wins went to genres that don't garner much popular attention. For example, independent label Concord Music Group won six prizes across the jazz, blues and roots genres.

Another major win for a non-major label was Vampire Weekend's Best Alternative Album victory for Modern Vampires in The City. But it seems only right that an independent should win for an alternative category.

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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis