Exceleration Music founding partner Charles Caldas and Andrew Klippel, co-founder and director of Ourness, are among the Australian executives celebrated in Billboard’s “Indie Power Players 2025” list.
The US music industry “bible” recognises the work of Caldas and Exceleration Music, which recently executed the purchase of venerated British independent label, Cooking Vinyl.
Caldas is identified alongside fellow partners John Burk, Amy Dietz, Dave Hansen and managing partner Glen Barros.
“Major-label consolidation has provided fewer good choices for labels wishing to stay truly independent,” comments Barros. “We stand firm in our belief that a healthy industry needs healthy alternatives to those systems.”
Exceleration launched with a mission to invest in “the future of independent music.” Since then, the enterprise has bought or struck “strategic relationships” with +1 Records, Alligator, Azadi, Bloodshot, Candid, Down The Road, Heroic, Kill Rock Stars, Mom+Pop, Redeye Worldwide, SideOneDummy, The Ray Charles Foundation/ Tangerine Records, Yep Roc Records, Mack Avenue Music Group, and more.
Prior to forming Exceleration Music, Caldas founded and led Merlin, the independent music community’s digital rights agency, from its inception back in 2008 through to the end of 2019. Earlier, Caldas led the Shock Entertainment Group as CEO from 1989 to 2005.
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Also, Billboard recognises Ourness after a breakout year for Royel Otis, which scored a first-up entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 2024, with their viral cover of The Cranberries’ “Linger (SiriusXM Session)” opening and peaking at No. 94.
Sydney-based Ourness “achieved 10 times growth” over the last year-and-a-half, he tells Billboard,” comments Klippel. “This has been the result of working with enduring and definitive artists and investing in developing them from zero, fuelled by instinct, without waiting for indications from outside sources.”
Klippel won for Manager of the Year, the top honour, at the AAM Awards 2025, where he tipped off the next Ourness act to watch out for, Sonic Reducer. The label has guided the career of multiple award-winning hip-hop artist Genesis Owusu.
“I’m incredibly proud of the Ourness team and our partners, who are second to none,” he tells Billboard. “Everyone has brought their best and worked around the clock to bring it home.”
On the meaning of the word “indie,” Klippel remarked, “There’s a cultural lineage to the term ‘indie,’ but I see it now as an important phase or a transition rather than a destination. It’s essential to embed the authenticity of an artist’s culture and exploration prior to the most distilled version, which is sometimes when an artist crosses over.”
Leading Billboard’s list is Dana Biondi, partner/artist manager at G59 Records. The “Indie” feature celebrates the most influential record labels, distribution companies and associations that are pushing the sector to new heights.
More than half of all royalties generated by domestic talent on Spotify were by independent artists or labels in 2024, according to the market-leading streaming music giant.
Read Billboard’s “Indie” list here.