Australian Recording Industry Association


The Australian Recording Industry Association 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 which was formed in 1956. It oversees the collection, administration and distribution of music licenses and royalties.
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, George Ash, Mark Poston, Sebastian Chase, David Vodica and Tony Harlow.

History

In 1956, the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers was formed by Australia's major record companies. It was replaced in 1983 by the Australian Recording Industry Association, which was established by the six major record companies operating in Australia, EMI, Festival Records, CBS, RCA, WEA and Polygram. 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. 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, George Ash, Mark Poston, Sebastian Chase, David Vodica and Tony Harlow.
Australian TV pop music show Countdown presented its own annual awards ceremony,, which was co-produced by Carolyn James during 1981–1984 in collaboration with ARIA. ARIA provided peer voting for some awards, while Countdown provided coupons in the related Countdown Magazine for viewers to vote for populist awards. 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.
Since 2 March 1987, ARIA administered its own entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards, to "recognise excellence and innovation in all genres of Australian music" with an annual ceremony. 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 have had a significant impact in Australia or around the world".
In February 2004, the Australian Record Industry Association 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.

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.

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.
For music DVDs, a gold accreditation originally represented 7,500 copies shipped, with a platinum accreditation representing 15,000 units shipped.
Prior to ARIA taking on the role of certification authority in 1983, the music industry used the following certification levels:

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.

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, Lifetime Achievement Awards and the ARIA Hall of Fame.

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 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.