The Hot Seat: Ed St John

05 August 2010

ARIA Chairman and Warner Music CEO speaks to us about the revamped ARIA Awards, why they needed to change and how they'll avoid the issues of last year’s event.

Why has ARIA revamped the Awards this year?
We felt we needed to take it to a new level in terms of visibility and profile. We need to increase ratings and ensure that the show remains relevant for viewers of all ages. There’s a younger audience who isn’t necessarily enamoured with watching three-hour TV shows, so we need to re-engage with that audience.

What is the biggest change to the format this year?
We’ll be coming to the Sydney Opera House and creating a show that combines an outdoor performance before a live audience with an industry awards ceremony in the Concert Hall. People can expect a shorter and more spectacular show.

And there’ll be fewer awards handed out on the night?
Correct. We’ve actually increased the number of awards overall because we’ve added two new genre categories (Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal and Adult Alternative) and introduced four new publicly voted awards into the main show. There’ll be fewer awards on the night – the socalled genre awards will be handed out separately. We’re still working on the best way to do this.

There are no ARIA functions in Melbourne. Could this rankle with the indies?
Hopefully this isn’t a ‘majors versus indies’ issue. We did the Hall of Fame in Melbourne for five years. Most of the people who came each year were from Sydney -- about 90%. The cost of staging the event is astronomical, and is generally a loss-maker for us. We feel we’ll have a better chance of attracting a paying audience in Sydney.

You’ve returned to Channel Ten. How will they improve the show?
Ten have a natural flair for music programming. They’ve got some great staff – as do the producers Fremantle - who really understand the DNA of the show and understand rock ‘n’ roll.

Why did the ARIA Awards rate so poorly last year?
Audiences for this sort of TV are diminishing. It was on Channel Nine, which was unfamiliar to the audience. And it wasn’t on a Sunday night -- the biggest night of the week for television -- where it had been for five or six years. It was on a Thursday, the worst night for attracting a younger audience. It was disappointing, but those were the factors.

Are there plans to sell the broadcast abroad?
We’d love to see international sales and we’ve had those discussions. Fremantle specialise in selling programs and formats overseas. When you think about a more focused show, and the iconic value of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour, we could have an amazing program that potentially people would want to watch around the world.

You had Robbie Williams last year, Pink before that? Is the show’s success contingent on the big internationals?
We don’t ever want to turn the ARIAs into an international music show. We stage it to promote the best in Australian music. But I don’t think you could attract a big audience here, or sell the show overseas, without at least one international performer. We’re still looking at what our talent possibilities might be for this year.

Why host the ARIA #1 Chart Awards?
The point of all of these different events is to bring as much attention to Australian music as we can. This year was especially important because we wanted to let people be well aware of our plans, and where we’re heading with the show.

Critics say the record industry shouldn’t be spending big on a show like the ARIAs.
We don’t spend big. We organise it, we shoulder the risk and responsibility. But we make absolutely no money out of it ourselves. It’s our intention that the broadcaster fees, the sponsor fees and the money we receive from selling tickets ultimately pays for it. If we didn’t stage it, I’m not sure it would happen. And I’m not willing to leave that up to chance.