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Hook 813

Dan Rosen, Kathy McCabe, Michael Harrison and Ian James (from left)

The Hook: Can the ARIAs recover from this year's ratings flop?

15 November 2010

After the ARIA Awards' chaotic ceremony and low ratings last week, we ask four industry experts whether it can be salvaged in 2011.

Dan Rosen
Chief Executive Officer, ARIA 
Sure. I think it can survive. I think it can thrive. We’ll do a review and see what worked and what didn’t work and make sure that we focus next year more on the things that did work. We tried a lot of new things. We tried to keep the show fastpaced and innovative, and tried to re-invigorate the format. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t.

The showcase of Aussie talent was sensational. The performances were great; some were as good as we’ve seen at the ARIAs. I’ve only been in the job a few weeks, but I want to look at everything and make sure that next year we can continue to improve and make it the best it can be. The media are entitled to do whatever they want. At the event itself, it felt fresh. But we have to cop the criticism and we have to continue to improve and get something better for next year. We have to keep moving forward.

Kathy McCabe
Music Editor, Daily Telegraph
Absolutely. Firstly, Mark Pope should be given absolute creative control rather than a television producer who thinks they know what good music television is. They apparently don’t - with the exception of Craig Campbell when Roving Enterprises had the gig. The underlying problem with the past two years’ telecasts is they have tried to be all things to all people and do way too much. The priorities are simple. Give the creators of the most excellent and/or popular music in the past 12 months an award and showcase the live talents of those nominated.

The artists have no problems showcasing their wares as Washington, Dan Sultan with INXS, Guy Sebastian, Sia, Birds of Tokyo, John Butler Trio, Powderfinger and Angus and Julia Stone ably demonstrated. The awards bit has always been an embarrassing farce, mostly presented by radio or television “personalities” reading cringeworthy autocue scripts. Get professionals to do the job professionally, give them ample time to rehearse and allow them to protest when the words just don’t work. And don’t let drunk punters gibber behind them.

Michael Harrison
Tour Co-ordinator, Frontier Touring Company
Organisers of the ARIA Awards need to get a bit of pride back into it. They need to go back to basics and work out what is their vision for the event. Is it going to be a TV show or an awards show? First and foremost, it needs to be the night that is the premium showcase of Australian talent. Whether it’s a TV show is inconsequential.

What we saw on Sunday was the ARIAs trying to be the Australian Idol finale, and that’s not what it’s about. They tried to apply the concept to an awards ceremony. Without trying it they didn’t know if it would work. But now they know. Whether it’s televised, that’s up to television to decide. As an awards show, it should always be there and it should always be our night of nights.

Ian James
Managing Director, Mushroom Music Publishing
My mother said to me that if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone then don’t say anything at all. Despite having ignored that advice throughout my career, in this case I think she’s right.

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