Cosey Fanni Tutti to receive Innovator Award at AIM’s Independent Music Awards 2025
Cosey Fanni Tutti a(Photo by Chris Carter)
The Independent Music Awards (run by AIM) will honour Cosey Fanni Tutti with the Innovator Award at its 15th-anniversary ceremony at the Roundhouse, London, on Tuesday 23 September 2025. The event will also crown Shed Seven as Best Live Performer, while Bandcamp is named Independent Music Champion.
The awards night features live sets by Moonchild Sanelly, Coach Party, and Ayanna Witter-Johnson. Doors open at 5pm with after-show drinks to follow.
AIM confirmed Tutti’s recognition for “radical work in art and music,” noting her roles in COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, and co-founding Industrial Records. Her later projects Chris & Cosey and Carter Tutti bridged avant-garde sound and electronic pop. Recent solo albums “TUTTI” and “2t2” appeared on her Conspiracy International imprint.
“Awards are about celebrating the entire ecosystem that makes independent music thrive,” AIM CEO Gee Davy says, adding that this year’s winners include Cosey Fanni Tutti, Shed Seven and Bandcamp for their contributions to independent music.
Alongside the special awards, AIM finalised this year’s shortlists. Ezra Collective and Fontaines D.C. lead with three nominations each. Key categories include:
- Best Independent Video (in association with VEVO): Ezra Collective “God Gave Me Feet For Dancing”; Bricknasty “Vinland”; Fontaines D.C. “In The Modern World”; Black Honey “Psycho”; Wet Leg “Catch These Fists”.
- PPL Award for Most Played New Independent Artist: Fat Dog; First Time Flyers; IN PARALLEL; NDOTZ; Popeth.
- Best Independent Label: Because Music; Communion Records; Modern Sky UK; Transgressive; XL Recordings.
- Best Independent Record Store: Art Beats (Saffron Walden); A Slice of Vinyl (Gosport); Raven Records (Camden); Spinning Around Records (Wellington, Telford); Wax & Beans (Bury).
- Best Creative Campaign: Aitch “4” (NQ Records); Bon Iver “SABLE, fABLE” (Jagjaguwar); Fontaines D.C. “Romance” (XL Recordings); Snapped Ankles “Hard Times Furious Dancing” (The Leaf Label); SOPHIE “SOPHIE” (Transgressive).
- Best Boutique Label (in association with Qobuz): AD 93; Clasico Records; FLYSTR8; Submarine Cat Records; Untitled (recs).
About Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti (born 1951, Hull, England) is a performance artist, musician and author. She emerged in COUM Transmissions (Hull/London, 1969–1976), a confrontational performance/art collective founded by Genesis P-Orridge, with Tutti among its key members.
In 1975, Cosey Fanni Tutti, P-Orridge, Chris Carter and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson formed Throbbing Gristle in London, pioneering industrial music. To self-release their work and that of peers, the group established Industrial Records in 1976.
After Throbbing Gristle’s 1981 split, Tutti and Carter continued as Chris & Cosey, initially releasing through Rough Trade (including their debut album “Heartbeat” in 1981), then expanding to independent labels such as Nettwerk, Play It Again Sam, Wax Trax! and others. In 1983 they launched CTI/Conspiracy International to handle their more experimental output and collaborations, later working under the Carter Tutti banner.
Tutti’s solo milestones include “Time To Tell” (1983; cassette on Conspiracy International; later reissued) and “TUTTI” (2019). Her 2025 album “2t2” was released on Conspiracy International in June on vinyl, CD and digital.
As an author, Tutti published the memoir “Art Sex Music” (2017) and the book “Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti” (2022).
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