The burning question arising from last week’s ARIA Awards nominations announcement wasn’t how many gongs Gotye will eventually take home (answer: seven) or who’s still voting for The Living End and Eskimo Joe (we don’t know). It was, after the
"brutally psychedelic" trainwreck of the 2010 award ceremony, 'What’s 2011 going to look like?'. And less subtly, 'How’s ARIA planning to save them?'
Perhaps not unsurprisingly, it was a question that went largely unanswered at last Wednesday's launch of the 25th ARIA Awards at the Sydney Theatre Company, with little revealed about format, hosts or production for ‘Australian Music’s Night of Nights’, as it used to be called.
Of course, a lot of it hinges on a television partner, which worryingly is yet to be finalised. “We have had a long and successful partnership with television over the years, and we look forward to this continuing in the future. We will soon be announcing our media partnerships,” ARIA Dan Rosen told attendees assembled at the Sydney Theatre Company.
After returning from Channel Nine to Channel Ten last year, it’s speculated they might turn up on Go or Eleven (there’s the promo right there – ‘Turn It Up to Eleven!’) or Foxtel for the first time
. It’s a precarious situation – the ARIAs are ultra-expensive to stage and with its TV ratings and album sales dropping, there’s neither the incentive for TV stations to chase it or the money in the industry to prop it up. Where the Awards can and should live is a hotly contested topic, with some industry pundits arguing that maybe it shouldn’t be televised this year at all.
And yet there were some clues about what we could expect come November 27. The move back to Homebush to the now-awfully-named Allphones Arena (formerly Acer Arena which was formerly Sydney Superdome – how much do naming rights deal suck?) is a positive sign and suggests a vital reversion back to the sit-down dinner format where winners actually get a stage and a pedestal to make a speech from. Also, after becoming a stand alone event in 2005, the ARIA Hall of Fame will be re-merged back into this year’s awards, which will hopefully inject a much-needed dose of history and community into proceedings after last year’s hollow, manic mess.
As for that mess, tellingly it didn’t even feature in ARIA’s video hype reel played at the launch. Not even the amazing Opera House setting, live performances (some of them were pretty good) or the night’s big winners Angus & Julia Stone made the cut. It was as if ARIA had burnt the tapes.
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen did briefly acknowledge
The Awards Which Must Not Be Shown in his welcome speech, stating only: “[We’re] totally committed to getting it right this year and we’ve learnt from the problems encountered in last year’s event. But ARIA, like the music industry it represents, needs to push the boundaries and move forward.”
But he didn’t say how. Well, not yet anyway. Whatever happens — what’s
obvious — is that 2011 is a make-or-break year for the Awards, and not just because it’s the big 2-5 anniversary. Despite what detractors say (and there are plenty), it
can bounce back (or at least, lay the foundations to do so in future years). But if it doesn’t get fixed this year, then it will stay broken. And end up on Gem.
Of course, the breadth and depth of this year's award nominees –
spearheaded by Gotye, Boy & Bear and Drapht - offer hope, even if the announcement of nominations itself was a little underwhelming. After being ably and at times hilariously MCed by Jabba from Max TV, it was disappointing that on its 25th anniversary, the actual announcements fell not to well-respected, well-loved music icons (Iva Davies, Steve Kilbey, Barnesy, Chuggi, anyone please?) but representatives from ARIA’s myriad of radio partners instead.
No offence to them, I’m sure they’re awesome at something. But when the ARIA’s are facing a huge cred crisis after last year’s event (which featured models, swimmers and ‘media personalities’ offloading awards), do you really want the first noms of the year read out by Charli and Ellie from 2DayFM, a ‘hit music’ station that plays the barest minimum of Australian music? Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa were next, with the latter calling Oh Mercy ‘Oh Mercury’, and as for veteran radio duo Jono & Dano, we’re pretty sure WSFM Classic Hits has never played any of the nominees apart from Billy Thorpe and AC/DC. Only Triple J’s Tom & Alex and ABC’s Robbie Buck made any sense up there.
It felt like ARIA was appeasing the various radio entities (Nova – tick! Austereo – tick!) to ensure good promotion for the awards; which they may have to do these days if TV’s yet to be tied down. There was no gravitas, no musical connection or weight, just empty cross-promotion. Let’s hope this isn’t a sign for the awards proper.
And as for who’s hosting this year’s event, our money’s on Rove. In the video montage, he appeared a staggering fourteen times. By comparison, Hamish and Andy appear twice and James Mathison once. It was almost like Rove’s ARIA adventure. And now his show’s on Foxtel and the Awards might end up there.
Can the ARIAs be saved? Yes, but organisers needs to put the music and the Awards first over television otherwise they’ll be no Awards. Worry less about ‘pushing the boundaries’ and instead strip it back to basics. Start afresh - not just reboot to the last year it scored over a million viewers (2008). Rebuild credibility, don’t chase popularity, and make the music matter again by acknowledging its heritage and the music greats who’ve built it. It’s not an impossible feat – last year’s APRA Awards and ARIA Hall of Fame were excellent events, with a perfect mix of reverence and irreverence.
Don’t let the models and B-grade celebs touch the trophies this year. They can just run the red carpet and get trashed at the after-party -- the paps can snap ‘em there. Instead, let the winners receive awards from people they’re truly inspired by. Or at least their peers. That’s a start.
Jason Treuen