A message from ARIA, to you...
- By
- September 15, 2011
25 years ago the Australian music community gathered at the Sheraton Wentworth in Sydney to celebrate the very first ever ARIA Awards.
Nominated that night were a bunch of young Australian artists, including INXS, Hunters and Collectors and Midnight Oil.
Crowded House won best new artist and John Farnham’s 'Whispering Jack' was crowned album of the year.
Capturing the mood of the evening, and setting the stage for next 25 years, it was Michael Hutchence who declared on winning his first ever ARIA, “Australia, this is just the beginning”
Since that Sydney night back in 1987, the ARIAs have provided some unforgettable moments:
• From Darren Hayes serenading Delta Goodrem
• To Silverchair’s triumphant comeback performance
• The magic moment collaboration between John Butler and Keith Urban
• To Missy Higgins mounting David Hasselhoff
These moments are firmly entrenched in our nation’s consciousness.
A quarter of a century is a long-time in anyone's books, and as our music industry has grown, so too have the ARIA Awards
The night itself had its ups and downs, we've shed tears of sadness and happiness, lost old friends and welcomed new ones,we have seen our homegrown talents go on to become stars on the world stage and we always been here to welcome them home and celebrate their achievements.
The ARIAs had given new talent the chance to shine and play on the country's biggest stage, and continued to recognise and reward our artists for helping to make the Australian music industry a reflection of the Australian character – bold, innovative and fearless with a touch of the larrikin.
The ARIAs have had it highs and lows and we don’t always get it right.
But when the lights fade and the show stops, the record shows we have remained true to our mission – to celebrate the Australian music industry, paying the upmost respect and gratitude to the artists that make the music and shining a light for the Australian public on the incredible talent we have in this country.
In helping us shine this light, 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.
But ARIA – like the music industry it represents – needs to continue to push the boundaries, always moving forward - and it is clear that both the music and media landscape has evolved.
In 1987 over half of all albums purchased in Australia were on cassette – today we are increasingly dominated by digital.
In this way ARIA is fully embracing digital this year with our exciting ACCESS ALL ARIAS initiative.
Today we launch our new look website for ARIA and for the Awards as well as our launching new YouTube channel.
This will ensure that Australian music fans will not miss a moment of our anniversary celebrations, with exclusive access to news, competitions and artists right up until and including the big night. There will be behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube,
while over on Facebook and Twitter we will be breaking all the latest ARIA news and giving exclusive access to all the best competitions and interactive Awards experiences.
With thanks to our partners HP and Intel, Australians will be able to use a Facebook app to vote in the publicly voted Award across three categories – including for the first time, Most Popular Australian Live Artist.
This a great initiative that enables all Australians to participate in the ARIAs and we encourage all of you to go to the Facebook app on ARIAs and HP’s Facebook pages to cast your vote.
We would like to thank our major partner the NSW State Government. Their support through Destination NSW enables us to tell Australia and the world that ARIA event is ON in Sydney.
As two legendary Australian artists, Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly, sang that from 'From Little Things, Big Things Grow'
The ARIAs and the Australian music industry as a whole has come a long way over the past 25 years – and on November 27 we will celebrate where we have come from, and where we headed
We look forward to you joining us.
It's gonna be big!
Australian Recording Industry Association
