Australian Recording Industry Association

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers (AARM) which was formed in 1956.[1] It oversees the collection, administration and distribution of music licenses and royalties.

"ARIA" redirects here. For other uses, see Aria (disambiguation).

Australian Recording Industry Association
ARIA (1983-present)
Australian Recording Industry Association (1983-present)
TypeTrade group
Founded1983 (1983)
HeadquartersSydney, New South Wales
Number of locations
Australia
Websitewww.aria.com.au

The association has more than 100 members, including small labels typically run by one to five people, medium size organisations and very large companies with international affiliates. ARIA is administered by a Board of Directors comprising senior executives from record companies, both large and small. As of October 2010, the directors were Denis Handlin (chair, CEO of Sony Music), George Ash (Universal Music), Mark Poston (EMI), Sebastian Chase (MGM Distribution), David Vodica (Rubber Records/Music) and Tony Harlow (WAR).[2]

History

In 1956, the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers (AARM) was formed by Australia's major record companies.[1] It was replaced in 1983 by the Australian Recording Industry Association, which was established by the six major record companies operating in Australia, EMI (now part of Universal Music Group), Festival Records, CBS (now known as Sony Music), RCA (now part of Sony Music), WEA (now known as Warner Music Group) and Polygram (now known as Universal). It later included smaller record companies representing independent acts/labels and has over 100 members. By 1997, the six major labels provided 90% of all recordings made in Australia.[1] ARIA is administered by a Board of Directors comprising senior executives from record companies, both large and small. As of October 2010, the directors were Denis Handlin (chair, CEO of Sony Music), George Ash (Universal Music), Mark Poston (EMI), Sebastian Chase (MGM Distribution), David Vodica (Rubber Records/Music) and Tony Harlow (WAR).[2]

Australian TV pop music show Countdown presented its own annual awards ceremony, Countdown Music and Video Awards, which was co-produced by Carolyn James (a.k.a. Carolyn Bailey) during 1981–1984 in collaboration with ARIA.[3][4][5] ARIA provided peer voting for some awards, while Countdown provided coupons in the related Countdown Magazine for viewers to vote for populist awards.[6] 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.[5]

Since 2 March 1987, ARIA administered its own entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards,[7] to "recognise excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music" with an annual ceremony.[8][9] 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".[10]

In February 2004, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) announced its own legal action against Kazaa, alleging massive copyright breaches. The trial began on 29 November 2004. On 6 February 2005, the homes of two Sharman Networks executives and the offices of Sharman Networks in Australia were raided under a court order by ARIA to gather evidence for the trial.

In 2006, ARIA formed sponsorship deals with Motorola and Nova and changed the appearance and conduct of the charting. Motorola took naming-rights sponsorship seeing the charts referred to in the media as the Motorola ARIA Charts. ARIA, have commented that as part of the same marketing printed charts would be reintroduced into media retailing shops and their website would be redesigned. As part of the deal Nova began broadcasting the charted singles in reverse order on a Sunday afternoon show before it was released on the ARIA charts website.

In 2020, ARIA in partnership with the New South Wales government announced Great Southern Nights, an initiative to bring 1,000 coronavirus-safe gigs in venues from across Sydney to regional NSW. The bid to revive NSW's live music industry already has more than 20 artists committed to performing, including Amy Shark, The Jungle Giants, Birds of Tokyo, Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, The Teskey Brothers, The Veronicas and the Tones, Thelma, Tash and Presets. The shows will follow up-to-date state health advice on venue capacity and social distancing regulations.[11]

ARIA charts
Main article: ARIA Charts

The ARIA Charts is the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres. All charts are compiled from data of both physical and digital sales from retailers in Australia.[12]

ARIA certifications

A music single or album qualifies for a platinum certification if it exceeds 70,000 copies shipped to retailers and a gold certification for 35,000 copies shipped. The diamond certification was created for albums in November 2015 to mark 500,000 sales/shipments.[13]

For music DVDs (formerly videos), a gold accreditation originally represented 7,500 copies shipped, with a platinum accreditation representing 15,000 units shipped.

Format Current Accreditation Levels[14]
Gold Platinum Diamond
Album [nb 1]35,000[nb 1] [nb 1]70,000[nb 1] [nb 2]500,000[nb 2]
Single [nb 3]35,000[nb 3] [nb 3]70,000[nb 3] N/A
Music DVD 7,500 15,000 N/A
  1. Australian albums figures can include digital album sales since May 2017.[15]
  2. Thus far, only Ed Sheeran's x, Eminem's The Eminem Show and Taylor Swift's 1989[16] have gained the certification, although historically other albums have sold as well or better. Sheeran was presented with a Diamond Award at the ARIA Music Awards of 2015.[13]
  3. Australian singles figures can include sales from legal digital downloads since July 2015.[15]

Prior to ARIA taking on the role of certification authority in 1983, the music industry used the following certification levels:

Format Accreditation Levels used until 1983[17]
Gold Platinum Diamond
Album 20,000 50,000 N/A
Single 50,000 100,000 N/A

ARIA Awards

ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards

The ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards were established in 2002 to recognise Australian recording artists, who reached number one on the ARIA albums, singles and music DVDs charts.[18]

ARIA Music Awards
Main article: ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry. The event has been held annually since 1987; it encompasses the general genre-specific and popular awards known as the ARIA Awards, as well as the Fine Arts Awards and Artisan Awards (held separately from 2004), Lifetime Achievement Awards and the ARIA Hall of Fame (held separately from 2005 to 2010 but returned to the general ceremony in 2011).

Criticisms

Like most recording industry associations, ARIA has been criticised for fighting copyright infringement matters aggressively, although in Australia this has largely taken the form of aggressive advertising campaigns particularly in cinemas directly preceding movies. This criticism is stauncher in Australia due to the absence of an equivalent Digital Millennium Copyright Act or state crimes acts which clearly establish copyright infringement as a crime.

In February 2004, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) took legal action against Kazaa, alleging massive copyright breaches. The trial began on 29 November 2004. On 6 February 2005, the homes of two Sharman Networks executives and the offices of Sharman Networks in Australia were raided under a court order by ARIA to gather evidence for the trial.

ARIA has been criticised by former Australian Idol judge and record producer Ian Dickson for a perceived intolerance of Australian Idol contestants, and a lack of nomination in the ARIA Awards.[19]

See also

References
  1. Siobhan O'Connor, ed. (1997) [1990]. The book of Australia : almanac 1997–98. Balmain, NSW: Ken Fin: Watermark Press for Social Club Books. p. 515. ISBN 1-875973-71-0.
  2. "Who We Are". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  3. "WAM Scene". Western Australia Music Industry Association Incorporated. 2005. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  4. "The Countdown Story". Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). 2006. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  5. "The quirks that made it work". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 August 2006. Retrieved 10 December 2008.
  6. "Countdown Magazine" (PDF). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. January 1986. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  7. Knox, David (17 October 2007). "ARIAs hall of infamy". TV Tonight. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. "ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  9. "ARIA Awards 2008 : Home". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  10. "ARIA Hall of Fame - Home page". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
  11. Newstead, Al (15 June 2020). "Great Southern Nights is NSW's plan to launch 1000 COVID-safe gigs". Music News. Triple J. ABC. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  12. "How are the ARIA Charts prepared each week?". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  13. Ryan, Gavin (28 November 2015). "ARIA Albums: Adele '25' Debuts At No 1 in Australia". Noise11. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  14. "ARIA Charts - Gold and Platinum ARIA Accreditation Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  15. "Code of Practice for ARIA Charts" (PDF). ARIA. March 2020. p. 6. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  16. Ryan, Gavin (19 December 2015). "ARIA Singles: Justin Bieber 'Love Yourself' Racks Up Second Week at No 1". Noise11. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  17. Glenn A Baker (12 June 1982). "Riding an International Wave". Billboard. Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 54, Australia New Zealand insert p2 (A/NZ2). ISSN 0006-2510.
  18. "ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards (1 July 2005)". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  19. Zuel, Bernard (6 September 2007). "Scarlet letters". The Sydney Morning Herald.
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