Jack White to Receive Special Innovator Award at Music Biz 2015 for Record-Breaking Lazaretto Ultra LP Vinyl

May 6, 2015 – Jack White will receive the Music Business Association’s (Music Biz) inaugural Innovator Award for his achievement with his latest album Lazaretto and the vinyl ULTRA LP, an exceptional work that uniquely marries classic art and current technology. The Award will be presented during the Music Biz 2015 Business Session on May 13th at 8:30 a.m. at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel in Nashville.

Released on June 10, 2014, Lazaretto debuted at #1 on the US albums chart, and not only broke the record for biggest selling first-week vinyl album sales with over 40,000 copies sold in the US, the Lazaretto vinyl ULTRA LP was also the biggest selling vinyl album of 2014 and any year of the SoundScan era with 86,707 copies sold in the US. The innovative Lazaretto ULTRA LP features a hand-etched hologram by Tristan Duke of Infinity Light Science (the first of its kind on a vinyl record), two hidden tracks hidden beneath the center labels that each play at different speeds (which also makes this a 3-speed record), dual-groove technology with different electric and acoustic intros for “Just One Drink” depending on where the needle is dropped, locked grooves, matte finish on Side B, and more. To date, the Lazaretto ULTRA LP has sold over 185,000 copies worldwide. The album was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the Best Alternative Music Album category, and the title track “Lazaretto” won the GRAMMY for Best Rock Performance. The track was also nominated for Best Rock Song. 

“We are so pleased to recognize Jack White’s groundbreaking success with Lazaretto,” said Music Biz President James Donio. “From the floating holograms, to the varied intros, to the surprising needle drops, to the locked groove, to the hidden content, to the multiple playing speeds, he has unquestionably brought new musical life to the world of vinyl.”

White launched his solo career in 2012 with the Gold-certified Blunderbuss, which also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, a career first. It was also the best-selling vinyl album and highest-charting solo debut of the year in the U.S. His previous band, The White Stripes, released six studio albums, including the Platinum-selling White Blood Cells and Elephant and the Gold-certified Icky Thump, and scored two #1 hits on the U.S. Alternative Songs chart with “Icky Thump” and “Seven Nation Army,” which has been appropriated as arguably the most popular chant in sports stadiums around the world. White is also a founding member of The Raconteurs, which topped the U.S. Alternative Songs chart with “Steady, as She Goes” and won a GRAMMY Award in 2009 for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album for Consolers of the Lonely. To date, White has won 11 GRAMMYs in eight different categories with 29 total nominations. He also founded The Dead Weather in 2009, in which he returned to his original instrument, the drums.

In 2009, White established the first physical location for his Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records. The space is a combination record store, performance venue, and label headquarters that hosts the innovative “live-to-acetate” concert series and has released records from artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, the Smoke Fairies, Wanda Jackson, Black Milk, and Stephen Colbert. In all, White has produced and released more than 300 records in just over six years. The label also runs the Third Man Records Vault, a quarterly subscription service in which members receive limited-edition vinyl records and merchandise every three months.

Music Biz 2015, which will be held in Nashville for the first time in Association history on May 12-14, is the music industry’s premier event, giving the commerce and content sectors a place to meet with trading partners, network with new companies, and learn about new trends and products impacting the music business. Registration is available now. For more information or to sign up for the conference, visit http://musicbiz2015.com.