ARIA Music Awards

ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards of 2009
ARIA Hall of Fame, within the Melbourne Town Hall
Awarded for	Excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music.
Presented by	Australian Recording Industry Association
Country	Australia
First awarded	1987
Last awarded	current
Official Website	http://www.ariaawards.com.au/

The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known as ARIA Music Awards or ARIA Awards) is an annual awards night celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA). The event has been held annually since 1987 and encompasses the general genre-specific and popular awards (these are what is usually being referred to as "the ARIA awards") as well as Fine Arts Awards, Artisan Awards, Lifetime Achievement Awards and ARIA Hall of Fame.

Winning or even being nominated for an ARIA award results in a lot of media attention on an artist, and usually increases recording sales several-fold (for example, in 2005, after Ben Lee won three ARIA awards, his album Awake Is the New Sleep jumped from #31 to #5 in the ARIA Charts,^[1] its highest position). However the awards are often viewed with scepticism by less mainstream artists, who view the awards an opportunity for a good party. (Tim Rogers of You Am I was once reported as keeping his awards in his outhouse toilet.^[1])

History

In 1983, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) was established by the six major record companies operating in Australia, EMI, Festival Records, CBS (now known as Sony Music), RCA (now known as BMG), WEA (now known as Warner Music) and Polygram (now known as Universal). It later included smaller record companies representing independent acts/labels and has over 100 members.

Australian TV pop music show Countdown presented its own annual awards ceremony, Countdown Music and Video Awards, which was co-produced by Carolyn James (aka Carolyn Bailey) during 1981–1984 and, in the latter two years, in collaboration with ARIA.^[2][3][4] ARIA provided peer voting for some awards, while Countdown provided coupons in the related Countdown Magazine for viewers to vote for populist awards.^[5] At the 1985 Countdown awards ceremony, held on 14 April 1986, fans of INXS and Uncanny X-Men scuffled during the broadcast and as a result ARIA decided to hold their own awards.^[4]

Since 2 March 1987, ARIA administered its own entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards,^[6] to "recognise excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music" with an annual ceremony.^[7][8] Initially included in the same awards ceremonies, it established the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988 and has held separate annual ceremonies since 2005. The ARIA Hall of Fame "honours Australian musicians' achievements [that] have had a significant impact in Australia or around the world".^[9]

Broadcast history

Initially, the ARIA Awards were not televised, at the very first award ceremony on 2 March 1987, the host, Elton John, advised the industry to keep them off television "if you want these Awards to stay fun".^[10] The first televised ARIA Awards ceremony occurred in 1991, all subsequent ceremonies were televised.^[10]

Controversy

The 2007 awards were marred by controversy, after it was revealed by the ABC's Media Watch programme that Network Ten had used subliminal advertising during the course of the broadcast,^[11] which under the Australian Media and Broadcasting rules, such an activity is illegal. Network Ten disputed the finding, however their basis for defence was criticised by Media Watch, as demonstrating an ignorance of the rules.

Nomination process

For full criteria, please see References.

To be eligible, a release must be commercially available within the specified period for a given year. Material must be previously unrecorded, thus ruling out most live albums. A recording can be nominated within multiple categories, but only one genre category (for example, an album could not be simultaneously nominated for Best Pop Release and Best Dance Release). Re-released recordings are not eligible and compilations are not eligible.

Artists must either be Australian citizens, or have applied for or attained permanent resident status and have resided in Australia for at least six months within the specified period. For bands, at least half the members of the group must meet this requirement. If a recording refers to both an individual and a band (for example, Dan Kelly & the Alpha Males), it must be nominated only the basis of the individual or the band, not mixed or both.

Some categories have further requirements as specified below:

• Album/Single of the Year: Recording must appear in the ARIA Top 100 Albums or Singles chart respectively during the specified period.
• Breakthrough Artist (Album/Single): Artist must not have previously reached the final five nominations in any ARIA awards category for any release, or have been in a group that has done so, or have a previous release in the Top 50 release charts.
• Best Rock Album: "Recording must be directed toward Contemporary Rock, Modern Rock and Active Rock formats."
• Best Adult Contemporary Album: "Recording must be directed toward Adult Contemporary formats."
• Best Pop Release: "Recording must be directed toward CHR/Top 40 formats."
• Best Independent Release: Recording must be released and funded by an ARIA member that is not a member of a multinational corporation.
• Best Music DVD: Compilations may enter this category. Content must be at least 60% original. The release must be eligible to appear on the ARIA Music DVD chart (this means most "bonus disc" releases are unlikely to be eligible).
• Best Comedy Release: Compilations are acceptable. Album, single and DVD releases are all eligible. Content must be 100% original.
• Best Children's Album: Compilations are acceptable (but content must be 100% original, having been recorded specifically for that album). Form and content must be aimed at a pre-teen audience.
• Best Dance Release: Compilations are acceptable. "Artists working primarily within the dance genre, eg: House, Techno, Trance, Hardcore, Garage, Breakbeat, Drum & Bass, Disco and Electronica are eligible. In the case of a remixed album or single, the production team(s) and the original recording artist(s) must both meet the artist eligibility criteria, and the release must qualify for inclusion in either the ARIA Album or Single chart."
• Best Urban Release: "Artists working primarily within the urban genre, eg: r’n’b, hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae and dancehall, are eligible. In the case of a remixed album or single, the production team(s) and the original recording artist(s) must both meet the artist eligibility criteria, and the release must qualify for inclusion in either the ARIA Album or Single chart. The ARIA member must also nominate whether the production team or the original recording artist would be the recipient of the award."
• Sales awards: A company may enter up to five recordings in a category. For these categories, the recording does not have to be first released during the specified period, so these categories are two of the few where recordings can be nominated more than once.

Judging process

A breakdown of the 2005 judging academy.

Sales awards are judged by an independent audit. The Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement awards are awarded at the discretion of the ARIA Board. Genre categories are judged by "voting schools" that consist of 40-100 representatives from that genre. The remaining generalist categories are the "voting academy", which consists of 1000 representatives from across the music industry.

Members of the academy are kept secret. Membership is by invitation only. An individual record company may have up to eight members on the academy. The only artists eligible to vote are winners and nominees from the previous year's awards.

During the 2004 ARIA Awards voting former 3RRR DJ Cousin Creep mocked the process by publishing his user name and password for the voting on music site Rocknerd before being banned from the process

Categories

Initial categories for the awards in 1987 were:

ARIA Awards

"Album of the Year", "Single of the Year", "Song of the Year" (last awarded in 1998), "Highest Selling Album", "Highest Selling Single", "Best Group", "Best Female Artist", "Best Male Artist", "Best New Talent" (last awarded in 1998), "Best Country Album", "Best Indigenous Release" (last awarded in 1998), "Best Adult Contemporary Album", and "Best Comedy Release".

Fine Arts Awards

"Best Jazz Album", "Best Classical Album", and "Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording".

Artisan Awards

"Producer of the Year" (not awarded in years from 1989 to 1994), "Engineer of the Year", "Best Video", and "Best Cover Art".

Additional categories

Additional categories with year first awarded: "Best Children's Album" (annually from 1988), ARIA Hall of Fame Inductees installed annually from 1988 except 2000 (no inductees), "Outstanding Achievement Award" (periodically, first in 1988), "Breakthrough Artist - Single" (annually from 1989), "Breakthrough Artist - Album" (annually from 1989), "Special Achievement Award" (periodically, first awarded in 1989), "Best Independent Release" (annually from 1990), "Lifetime Achievement Award" (periodically, first awarded in 1991), "Best Alternative Release" (annually from 1994), "Best Pop Release" (annually from 1994), "Best Dance Release" (annually from 1995), "Best World Music Album" (annually from 1995), "Best Rock Album"(annually from 1999), "Best Original Cast / Show Recording" (annually from 1999 to 2003), "Best Blues & Roots Album" (annually from 1999), "Best Urban Release" (annually from 2004), "Best Music DVD" (annually from 2004).

The trophy

The ARIA award trophy is a pyramid shaped trophy except for the Channel V award which is "V" shaped, and silver, or in the case of the award of 2008, red.

ARIA Music Awards by year

To see the full article for a particular year, please click on the year link.

Most Awards/Nominations

• John Farnham is the award shows' biggest winning and nominated male to date.
• Kylie Minogue is the award shows' biggest winning and nominated female to date.
• Silverchair is the award shows' biggest winning and nominated group to date.
• Overall Silverchair are the biggest winning and nominated artist to date.

Wins

• Silverchair - 21 Awards^[17]
• John Farnham - 19 Awards^[18]
• Kylie Minogue - 16 Awards^[19]
• Powderfinger - 15 Awards^[20]
• Savage Garden - 14 Awards^[21]
• Crowded House - 11 Awards
• Tim Rogers - 10 awards (9 with You Am I; 1 for self)
• Midnight Oil - 10 Awards
• Kasey Chambers - 9 Awards (7 solo; 1 with Dead Ringer Band; 1 with Shane Nicholson)
• You Am I - 9 Awards
• Delta Goodrem - 9 Awards
• Eskimo Joe - 8 Awards
• Natalie Imbruglia - 8 Awards
• Paul Kelly - 8 Awards
• Yothu Yindi - 8 Awards
• Jet - 7 Awards
• Missy Higgins - 7 Awards
• The Wiggles - 7 Awards (5 with Greg Page; 2 with Sam Moran)
• Wendy Matthews - 6 Awards
• Nick Cave - 6 Awards
• Gabriella Cilmi- 6 Awards
• Tina Arena - 6 Awards

Nominations

• Silverchair - 46 Nominations
• John Farnham - 39 Nominations
• Powderfinger - 37 Nominations
• Kylie Minogue - 37 Nominations
• Various Artists - 31 Nominations
• You Am I - 28 Nominations
• Savage Garden - 26 Nominations
• Crowded House - 25 Nominations
• Paul Kelly - 24 Nominations
• Eskimo Joe - 24 Nominations
• The Living End - 23 Nominations
• Regurgitator - 21 Nominations
• Missy Higgins - 19 Nominations
• John Butler Trio - 19 Nominations
• Delta Goodrem - 19 Nominations
• Spiderbait - 19 Nominations
• Midnight Oil - 18 Nominations
• Nick Cave - 17 Nominations
• Human Nature - 16 Nominations
• Christine Anu - 16 Nominations
• Tina Arena - 15 nominations
• The Whitlams - 14 Nominations
• Ben Lee - 14 Nominations
• Kasey Chambers - 13 Nominations
• Jimmy Barnes - 13 Nominations
• The Wiggles - 13 nominations
• Grinspoon - 13 Nominations
• The Waifs - 13 Nominations
• Jessica Mauboy - 7 Nominations

References

^  "Warm Hands, Heavy Heart", Simon Woolridge. p80, June 1998 Juice magazine.

• 2005 award categories and definitions (PDF)

External links

• Official website