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Posted on August 7 2008
The countdown has commenced to the 2008 ARIA Awards with 5 weeks to go until the Final Five nominees are announced (and Artisan Awards are given out), 7 weeks until the ARIA Fine Arts Awards and 10 weeks until the 2008 ARIA Awards!
As the music industry commence casting their votes this year, ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) is proud to announce the key dates and affiliated events, which culminate in the staging of Australia’s premier music industry event.
Each year tells a new musical story. In 2007 a number of artists received their first ever ARIA Awards, including Sarah Blasko, Gotye, Operator Please and Sneaky Sound System, but it was the titanic Silverchair who dominated the 21st ARIA Awards winning an impressive five ARIAs, including gongs for Best Group, Best Rock Album and the coveted Album of the Year.
One year on and we’re delighted to say it’s been another bumper year of Australian music. The contenders for the 22nd ARIA Awards (eligibility period Saturday, 4 August, 2007 to Friday, 25 July 2008) will feature a diverse group of performers which includes new faces like The Presets, Gabriella Cilmi, Sam Sparro, Whitley, Birds of Tokyo and Cut Copy, whose releases make them eligible for academy votes alongside previous ARIA Award winners Delta Goodrem, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Veronicas, The Living End, Kasey Chambers and many more.
Over 900 entries have been received for this year’s Awards across 26 voting categories and the judges certainly have their work cut out for them!
ARIA Chairman and President & CEO of Warner Music Australasia, Ed St John, said “2008 has already been a bumper year for new Australian music and I think this year's ARIAs will reflect that. The Australian music industry continues to invest aggressively and confidently in new Australian artists - and that risk has paid off with some tremendous success stories both here and overseas. So many young Australian artists at the very beginning of their careers and already household names - the 2008 ARIAs will be a wonder to behold."
In the most important annual ballot in the Australian music calendar, members of the Australian music industry began casting their votes yesterday, thus shaping the outcome of the 22nd ARIA Awards. Over 1,000 members of the voting academy will have their say on 26 of the 28 ARIA Award categories (the awards for Highest Selling Single and Highest Selling Album are determined by sales). The voting academy continues to evolve and features judges from all sectors of the music industry including retail, radio and TV, journalists and critics, DJs, concert promoters, agents, ARIA member record companies and past ARIA Award winners.
Voting will close on Friday, 15 August and the final five nominees across 28 ARIA Award categories will be announced at a special industry function at Carriageworks in Sydney on Wednesday, 10 September. The ARIA Awards Nominations Event will also feature the presentation of this year’s ARIA Artisan Awards for Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year, Best Cover Art and Best Video. Also, in keeping with tradition, the ARIA Nominations Event will feature the announcement of the much-coveted first performers and special guest presenters for the ARIA Awards. General public tickets (all ages) will go on sale Wednesday, 10 September at 12 noon from Ticketek.
Music retail outlets will once again be honoured at the ARIA Awards nominations event. AMRA (The Australian Music Retailers Association), in conjunction with ARIA, will announce the winners of the 2008 RETAILER OF THE YEAR Awards. The Awards are presented to five independent and five chain stores across Australia and recognise the importance of music retail to the artists, producers and promoters of music.
The ARIA Fine Arts Awards will be held at Sydney’s illustrious City Recital Hall on Monday, 29 September. Now in its fifth year as a stand-alone event as part of the ARIA Awards calendar, the ARIA Fine Arts Awards will see the announcement of the winners in the categories of Best Classical Album, Best Jazz Album, Best World Music Album and Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Recording and feature special live performances.
The climax of the ARIA calendar of events for 2008 is the main event, the 22nd ARIA Awards, proudly brought to you by Motorola, which will take place on Sunday, 19 October at Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. The ARIA Awards recognise excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music and this year will be no exception. The event, which will see the unveiling of the remaining 20 category winners, will be exclusively telecast by official broadcast partner Network Ten from 8.00pm.
Chief Programming Officer TEN, David Mott said, "TEN loves to nurture Australian talent – whether it be in the music or television business, and by broadcasting the 22nd ARIA Awards we are fortunate enough to be supporting both. We are proud of our coverage of the ARIA Awards each year, and are looking forward to once again, bringing viewers closer to their favourite artists, providing a night of solid entertainment."
Andrew Volard, Managing Director, Mobile Devices, Motorola South Pacific, said that the company is passionate about fostering local music talent, so the ARIA alliance is a natural extension of their existing support for the industry.
“Music is at the core of what we do. From the launch of our new MOTOROKR E8 ARIA Edition mobile device, which transforms from phone to music player to video camera with the simple touch of a button, to our new MOTOMUSIC website, our Artist of the Month program that's been running for 2 and a half years now and our longstanding relationship with ARIA we offer Australians direct access to all they need to know about their favorite bands and artists, allowing them to get up close and personal.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the 2008 ARIA Awards and proud to foster the development of Australian grown musical talent” he concluded.
2008 ARIA AWARDS KEY DATES:
Saturday 4 August, 2007 to Friday, 25 July, 2008 inclusive - Eligibility period for releases
Wednesday, 6 August, 2008 to Friday, 15 August, 2008 inclusive (10 days) - Voting period
Wednesday, 10 September, 2008 - ARIA Nominees announced and ARIA Artisan Awards, Sydney’s Carriageworks
Wednesday, 10 September, 2008 – ARIA Awards tickets on sale to General Public from 12 noon
Monday, 29 September, 2008 - ARIA Fine Arts Awards, Sydney’s City Recital Hall
Sunday, 19 October, 2008 – 22nd ARIA Awards, Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park |
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