Noah Kahan presents Label of the Year to Monte and Avery Lipman representing Republic Records at the Billboard Power 100 Party 2024.
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00:00 Hello everybody, my name is Noah Khan.
00:02 Oh wow, thanks.
00:05 I'm honored to present this label of the year award to a label that is truly deserving of the recognition.
00:10 Republic Records continues to set the gold standard for the industry and not only their domination of year-end label rankings for the past three
00:17 years in a row, we're claiming six of the year-end top ten Billboard 200 albums,
00:22 but in their enduring commitment to their art of success.
00:26 Nearly nine years ago, I walked into their offices a hairy, immature, and
00:30 somehow really old and tired looking 18 year old and was offered a record deal.
00:35 Today, almost nine years later, older, wiser, and still kind of off-putting,
00:40 I feel complete gratitude for the opportunity they gave a kid with one song out and
00:45 whose biggest show to that point was a performance at a local gelato shop.
00:48 When I got signed, I thought it meant I would be on a yacht
00:53 partying with The Weeknd and Drake, and while that has not yet happened, Republic Records and Mercury Records have made nearly every other naive dream of mine a reality.
01:01 I see the world-class effort supporting these superstar artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande,
01:05 but also the same care, enthusiasm, and tenacity for breakout acts like Embihol and Conan Gray.
01:11 The opportunity they gave me is a testament to their belief and their drive to develop and champion the next generation of artists.
01:19 I couldn't have known how fortunate I was at the time to be partnering up with a team of people who truly supported my vision
01:24 and provided me with the tools to develop and find out who I was as a person and musician.
01:29 I now know how rare it is to cultivate a long career with the same team of people I began it with.
01:33 No matter what show I played, whether it was the Bowery Ballroom in New York or the Troubadour here in LA,
01:39 I knew I could count on my Republic and Mercury family.
01:42 Spearheaded by the man who signed me all those years ago, Ben Adelson,
01:46 to be in the wings watching me alongside Monty and Avery Littman who have all been constant champions and advocates for me since day one.
01:52 Whether it was a tiny club or a sweaty Tuesday night opening set,
01:56 I always felt their support, and I know they'll be cheering me on when I play Madison Square Garden this summer.
02:01 I'll know we got there together. Thank you and congratulations to Republic Records.
02:10 All right folks, we're about to get started here and for those people in the back, winning this award is hard as hell.
02:16 So how about a little respect?
02:18 Thank You Noah. So Noah is from a
02:23 He's from a small town in Vermont. Every time I tell the story the town gets smaller.
02:28 So now it's down to like a stop sign in a mailbox.
02:30 So the population like ten, but it's true Noah has been together. We've been together for eight plus years and
02:38 one of the things you do as a record label,
02:40 you know when you have more artist meetings, new artist means you tell them about all your
02:44 successes and so whenever a new artist comes in and we have we say hey we got Noah Khan it took eight years and
02:49 every artist glazes over. So sorry, no, I'm not gonna use that story much anymore.
02:54 It doesn't help us. But on that note, this last week there was a brand new artist
02:59 that probably half this room is trying to sign, this independent artist, and he said to us he said
03:06 in one word, how would you describe your company? And I said, wow, that's a really great question.
03:11 And so I was thinking of coming up. I was like, well, we're passionate. We're devoted.
03:16 We're ambitious and Monty said, that's why he's a CEO. He said, you know what? I'll be right back.
03:21 So he leaves the room and he comes back and he has a photo of
03:25 the company of like the senior execs and it just said family and
03:32 that's for public records and it's true. You might have heard the stories. Monty and I and our cousin Brett started and that started,
03:39 you know, our family started this company and now I'm really happy to say we have a much larger family and Jim Rappo,
03:45 Wendy Goldstein and the rest of Republic team are here and
03:48 like any family, I will say we do love each other. We do and and and funny
03:54 there was one time that Monty and I went sideways.
03:58 We actually like yelled at each other like in front of people and I looked around and everybody was like hiding under their desks.
04:04 So we do keep it. We keep it together, but I also want to just recognize
04:08 Tyler Arnold and Ben Adelson.
04:11 They're graduates of Republic University.
04:14 They've got the hottest new imprint in the business. Ben who signed
04:19 Noah amongst others also is the worst assistant I've ever had, but thankfully he is our actually our number one best A&R person.
04:27 So I just want to say thank you and I want to thank the team. The Republic team is amazing. So thank you very much.
04:33 Thank you again, I'll make this fairly brief. First and foremost,
04:43 if we can have your attention in the back, please. Thank you.
04:52 I want to thank and recognize Lucien Grange, our fearless leader who inspires us each and every day.
04:58 The powerful team at UMG. I see Boyd Muir, Will Tannis.
05:03 Taylor Swift, I've been with for 15 years and I am grateful and I've got so much
05:12 gratitude in my heart and I've been allowed to hitch my wagon to her success for all these years and she's taken us into
05:19 uncharted waters and every day is an adventure. So thank you Taylor. The last thing I wanted to mention is in this room
05:25 we are a fraternity, we are a sorority and we've pledged our allegiance to protecting the poets,
05:32 the storytellers and the songwriters and what we all know is that the bedrock of every relationship
05:39 with our artists is respect and we don't let anybody compromise that. Thank you.
05:46 [applause]
05:48 (audience applauding)