The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (commonly known as AIR), formerly Association of Independent Record Labels, is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

which supports the growth and development of Australia's independent recording industry. It represents Australian-owned record labels and independent artists based in Australia who function without the backing of

major record labels "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

. AIR was founded in 1996 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and is now located in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. In 2000, it founded the Independent Music Charts, also known as AIR Charts, which track the sales of Australia's highest-selling independent artists on a weekly and monthly basis, and since 2006 the annual Independent Music Awards, or

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

, have been run to celebrate the year's highest-charting independently released Australian singles and albums.

History

AIR was started by a group of Sydney and Melbourne music industry professionals and labels, who began meeting regularly to formulate ideas on how to start an industry association that would assist the ongoing development of Australia's independent record industry. The association was incorporated in 1996 thanks to a small donation from

Phantom Records Phantom Records was an Australian record store and independent record label established in 1978 on Pitt Street in Sydney. Phantom Records was one of Australia's first indie labels, and the store was known for its guerilla marketing strategies. ...

, and received its first operation funding grant from the

Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

in 1998. Additional Australia Council funding was received in 2000, and in this same year, members also voted to change AIR's legal status from Incorporated Association to Company Limited by Guarantee. AIR moved its base from

, New South Wales, to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Queensland, in 2004 when Stuart Watters (formerly of Q Music,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

's state music council) took over as its chief executive officer. In 2007 AIR moved its operations from Brisbane to

, Victoria, where it is now based in the Rubber Records and Media Arts Lawyers building in North Melbourne. In 2009 it registered a collective bargaining notification to bargain on behalf of 63 participating members, with each of

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

Austar Austar was an Australian telecommunications company founded in 1995 as Community Entertainment Television (CETV). Its main business activity was subscription television. It was also involved with internet access and mobile phones. Austar's tel ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

XYZnetworks XYZnetworks was an Australian media company that owned, operated and distributed eleven subscription television channels in Australia. XYZnetworks was jointly owned by Foxtel and Austar. Based in Sydney, they had roughly 170 employees, with offi ...

Fuel TV (Australia) Fuel TV is a sports-orientated digital cable and satellite television action sports channel owned by FUEL TV Global, S.A. The channel is focused on the culture of extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, sur ...

and

Bigpond Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecom ...

, regarding the licensing of sound recording rights in respect of public performance and transmission of

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s. The application, which would last for three years, was approved. The collective bargaining power brought a number of benefits to members.

Members

AIR began as a small association with 25 members to a company with over 200 financial members across all sectors of the Australian music industry. AIR's membership of significant Australian Independent Record Labels includes but is not limited to Head Records,

Shock Records Shock Records was an Australian independent record label, branded with the logo Shock or Shock Australia. Founded in 1988, it traded as Shock Records Pty. Ltd, and its publishing arm as Shock Music Publishing Pty. Ltd. Its most prominent sublab ...

Elefant Traks Elefant Traks was a record label based in Sydney, Australia, founded by Kenny Sabir (p.k.a.Traksewt) in 1998. The label predominantly released Australian hip hop music, and founded its own hip-hop collective, The Herd, as well as managing acts ...

Obese Records Obese Records was an Australian hip-hop, Australian hip hop record label based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was the largest independent hip hop label in Australia and was home to acts such as Pegz, Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals, Reason (Australian ...

Dew Process Dew Process is an Australian independent record label, based in Brisbane, Queensland, founded and owned by Australian music industry figure Paul Piticco. Operational The label operates in two primary areas: traditional development of Australi ...

Liberation Music Liberation Records, formerly Liberation Music, was an Australian record company and label, started in 1999 by Michael Gudinski and Warren Costello, based in Melbourne. Its stated business aim is to "find, nurture and then to develop new tal ...

, Plus One Records,

Remote Control Records Remote Control Records was established in 2001 by Steve Cross and Harvey Saward. It provides publicity, label management, distribution and marketing services to international and local artists and labels. Remote Control's roster of internatio ...

MGM Distribution MGM Distribution (Metropolitan Groove Merchants) is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise. It was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase. MGM Distribution was set up specifically as a d ...

, UNFD – We Are Unified,

Ivy League Records Ivy League Records was an Australian record label based in Sydney. It was founded in 1997 by Pete Lusty, Andy Cassell and Andy Kelly. In 2024, the label was merged into Mushroom Music. In the past, the label released music from the likes of ...

, Vitamin Records, Eleven: A Music Company, Red Cat Records,

Illusive Sounds Illusive Group is an Australian independent record label and management and touring company that represents acts including Bliss n Eso, Lowrider (Australian band), Lowrider, Stonefield (band), Stonefield, Owl Eyes, Clubfeet, Diafrix, Lurch & Chi ...

, Future Classic, Casadeldisco Records and

Jarrah Records Jarrah Records is an independent Australian record label which releases material by Western Australian-formed bands, John Butler Trio and The Waifs, and their members. In July 2002 the label was founded and co-owned by John Butler; The Waifs' ...

. it has about 350 members.

Purpose and function

AIR is the national industry association representing "indie labels" in Australia, which aims to represent their members' interests both in Australia and elsewhere. With this sector of the recording industry representing about 85% of all Australian recorded music, AIR's primary role is growing the marketplace for this music. Representing their members individually and collectively is done through advocacy, negotiations, and helping with access to new markets internationally. It services businesses of all shapes and sizes, battles copyright violations and helps to develop artists' careers. AIR represents the Australian industry internationally as a member of Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), a coalition of independent music bodies from countries throughout the world. On 4 July 2008 AIR took part in WIN's Independents Day initiative, the first annual coordinated celebration of independent music across the world. As a major part of these celebrations AIR conducted an online poll for Australia's greatest independent records of all time.

2017 market analysis

In 2017, AIR commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to produce ''AIR Share: Australian Independent Music Market Report'', the first

market analysis A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. It is part of the industry analysis and thus in turn of the global environmental analysis. Through all of these analyses the strengths, ...

of the industry, which showed that indie labels represented 30% of revenue generated by the Australian recorded music market. It also showed that 57% of independent sector revenue is from Australian artists, which put the Australian sector in the Top 10 global list of mainly English-speaking indie music markets. The report valued the Australian recording industry as worth , sixth largest music market in the world in terms of revenue and ahead of countries with higher populations such as Canada and South Korea. Digital revenue, at 44%, had overtaken that coming from physical sales, at 33%. A spokesperson from the company Unified Music Group said that governments were beginning to recognise the financial and cultural worth of a thriving music industry, but there was still a big challenge for the independents to compete with well-funded tech companies that have an anti-

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

agenda.

Independent Music Charts

In 2000, AIR inaugurated the Independent Music Charts, which track the sales of Australia's highest selling independent artists. The top 20 independent singles and albums were published on a weekly basis, but genre charts for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and roots,

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

were published once a month. When

Jägermeister ( , ) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation, and the drink contin ...

took over as major sponsor of the AIR Awards in 2008, they announced that AIR Charts would undergo some changes, including a new website, aimed at developing new audiences for Australian music, both in Australia and worldwide. In 2010 a further three-year deal for sponsorship by Jägermeister was announced, with the awards renamed the Jägermeister Independent Music Awards and the charts Jägermeister Independent Music Charts. When Carlton Dry took over the sponsorship in 2013, the charts were renamed the Carlton Dry Independent Music Charts. , the AIR Charts include four categories and include the top 20 in each: 100% independent singles; 100% independent albums; independent label singles; and independent label albums. The lists are created by AIR from data supplied by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA). The AIR Charts differ from the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

in that they focus on Australian artists represented only by Australian independent labels. the monthly genre categories are no longer published The weekly charts, published on each Monday, feature the top 20 in each of the following categories: 100% Independent Singles; 100% Independent Albums; Independent Label Singles; and Independent Label Albums. The distinction between the "100%" and "Label" categories were described in 2009 as follows: * 100% Indie: Independent releases distributed through an independent distributor * Indie Label: Independent releases distributed through any distributor, including a major distributor. The top 50 of the AIR singles charts are also published by online industry magazine ''The Music Network'', along with various other charts.

Australian Independent Record (AIR) Awards

Beginning in 2006, the AIR commenced the annual

, celebrating the success of Australian independent music.

Indie-Con Australia

The inaugural "Indie-Con Australia" music industry conference took place in July 2017 in Adelaide, to coincide with the 11th AIR Awards. The conference has continued until 2019, with the support from the

South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

. (One article describes it as an "offshoot" of the Indie-Con UK conference, which is organised by

Association of Independent Music The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is a non-profit trade body established in 1999 by UK independent record labels to represent the independent record sector, which in 2016 constituted approximately 23% of the UK market. Its members in ...

AIM, but it appears to be independently run in Australia.) The conference was held at

Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, usually referred to as Tandanya, is an art museum located on Grenfell Street in Adelaide, South Australia. It specialises in promoting Indigenous Australian art, including visual art, music a ...

in 2017, at The Hindley (then part of the HQ complex in

Hindley Street Hindley Street is located in the north-west quarter of the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs between King William Street, Adelaide, King William Street and West Terrace, Adelaide, West Terrace. Th ...

) in 2018 and at

Lot Fourteen Lot Fourteen is a business and technology precinct at the eastern end of North Terrace in Adelaide city centre, South Australia. The site formerly accommodated the old Royal Adelaide Hospital, which was moved to a new building at the western ...

in 2019.

References

External links

* {{Music of Australia Music organisations based in Australia Business organisations based in Australia Music industry associations Independent Music Awards 1996 establishments in Australia Independent Music Awards winners Australian record charts Indie music