AIR explain Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP awards omission

10 September 2010

According to the Australian Independent Records (AIR) association, there's a simple reason Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP didn't receive any nominations for this year’s awards - the judges didn't pick them.

On Wednesday (September 8), Jamie Raeburn, Director of the Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP’s label Sweat It Out, contacted TMN to express his bewilderment that the dance trio’s global hit We No Speak Americano didn’t get a single nomination for the Awards, despite being #1 on the AIR charts for weeks.

In response, AIR GM Nick O’Byrne issued this statement to TMN to clarify the situation, attributing their omission to “AIR's own confusion about Central Station's relationship with Universal” and the fact that judges didn’t select them.

His statement reads:

“We Speak No Americano's omission was due to AIR's own confusion about Central Station's relationship with Universal. For the sake of these awards only masters that are 100% Austrlalian owned are in contention. Without delving into the contractual details of every record label's relationship with their distributor we do our utmost to discern where the ownership of the masters lie.

We Speak No Americano's success has been a phenomenon which has been reflected in our own Jagermeister Independent Charts. However like the ARIA's, these nominees are based on votes from our judging pool and their inclusion in a shortlist would have been no guarantee of nomination.

You'll also notice that neither The John Butler Trio or Sally Seltmann were nominated. Not because they weren't deserving or hadn't achieved incredible commercial or artistic success but because our 250 judges chose otherwise. The nominees this year are exceptional across the board and we stand by them.

In response to the article it's worth letting you know exactly what the voting process for the awards is.

1. AIR gathers a shortlist of artists who have made an impact on the Jagermeister Independent Music Charts from the previous year. We also consult with our membership in case their has been an omission or release that deserves consideration despite a lack of commercial success.

2. This shortlist, including tracks from the album is presented to 250 judges in a secure voting form. The judging panel is made up of music press (online, street press, mainstream newspapers and specialist music publications), radio (community radio, ABC and commercial) and music industry representatives from the independent sector. As a whole they are unbiased and we do not interfere with their judging.

3. Votes are collated, the top 6 announced as nominees and the winner announced at the awards ceremony.

Both Dance/Electronica and Jazz are genres that rarely make a charts impact so we rely on a smaller number of specialist judges (about 60) who know the Australian scene well. In the case of Dance/Electronica we had specialist judges from music media, festivals and promoters. Dance judges pointed out that the criteria of "albums" is not representative of a scene whose currency is singles and remixes. We've already begun looking at ways to better gauge the success of independent dance artists in future years.”