The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is launching the second year of its Black Independent Music Accelerator (BIMA), a scholarship initiative to benefit black-owned businesses in the independent music community.

BIMA Fellows are members of A2IM – a nonprofit business organization that represents nearly 700 independent music labels – and have their annual fees subsidized. They will also receive free tickets to annual events including Indie Week, the four-day international conference and the A2IM networking event.

Additionally, BIMA’s 2022 Advisory Board will provide guidance, oversight and support to 2022 Fellows. Board members this year include Fotemah mba, A&R manager, general market at Cinq Music Group; Courtnay Moriarty, senior digital rights manager at Pex; and Kristine Mbadugha, Head of Independent Music Partnerships at YouTube Music. More names will be announced at a later date.

Applications for the BIMA 2022 program open on January 10 and close on January 24. Interested parties can apply and find out more at a2im.org/bima.

Erinn knight, president of BIMA 2021’s Build Your Own Dreams, said in a statement: “Black entrepreneurs have been the backbone of the music industry since the dawn of time. Giving us access to the resources of our counterparts now opens the door to countless possibilities for creators who look like us, think and dream.

“The BIMA program made me feel seen and reflected in an industry in which I felt lonely for a long time,” added Katrina frye, founder and CEO of Lauretta Records 2021 BIMA. “Ongoing offerings with industry service providers and BIMA program experts have been helpful and educational. Plus, having access to all the benefits of A2IM membership has completely elevated and elevated my independent label.

Last year’s BIMA fellows also included 180 Proof, Art Vs Transit, Carnelian Productions, Chaos Club Entertainment, The Clarion Group, Creambridge, Doite Media, Electric Train Records, First One Up, glbl wrmng, Hutton Records, I Am Leven , Jazz Is Dead, JT Entertainment, Live TMG, Never Normal Records, Para Music Group, ProSound Media, SaulPaul Productions, You Send Creative Entertainment, Sonnig Records, SpacedOut Studios Entertainment, Stay Solid Entertainment, Suckas Can’t Join Records, Thndr, TouchedDown Sound, Verse and Hook, VICEVERSA and the Zenzalai band.

The inaugural BIMA program was sponsored by ADA, Amazon Music, Made in Memphis Entertainment, Spotify, EnterGain, Paperchain, Reach Records, Songtrust, Soundcloud, Taryn Brown + Company, TuneCore, Adrev, Light in the Attic Records & Distribution, Mad Decent , Materia Music, MERLIN, SoundExchange, Symphonic Distribution, Vydia and Xelon Digital.

Sponsorship requests for the 2022-23 program can be made by contacting [email protected]