EXCLUSIVE: Calls Grow For Changes To ARIAs Voting System Following The Amity Affliction Uproar
"...I can see why some people are frustrated right now."
The Amity Affliction have garnered a fair share of heat and support in the last 24 hours.
After the Brisbane band called out ARIA for awarding the Best Hard/Rock Heavy Metal Album to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, a band which Amity frontman Ahren Stringer and a number of fans have argued are not a hard rock act, calls have begun to grow for a complete overhaul of how the voting system operates.
ARIA confirmed to The Music that the process currently in place allows labels to submit albums and singles for consideration into whichever category they choose and from that, a specialist voting panel then choose the entries which make up the ARIA nominations.
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Speaking to The Music today, UNFD label head Luke Logemann, who promotes UNIFY Gathering and manages last year’s Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal ARIA winners Northlane (as well as previous nominees, In Hearts Wake and Hellions) has suggested it may be time to change things up.
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"I think it's awesome that the ARIAs introduced [the Best Hard/Rock Heavy Metal Album] award and for us to have bands like Hellions, Amity, In Hearts Wake, Thy Art Is Murder, Dream On Dreamer, House Vs Hurricane, Buried In Verona and many more get acknowledged by the ARIA wards has been an incredible thing over the past half decade," Logemann says.
"The fact that bands like Northlane and Parkway Drive have won awards is amazing, and something I’m sure neither band ever saw happening in their careers.
"At the same time, I can see why some people are frustrated right now," Logemann continues.
"Personally, I think the best thing to do is to follow the model the Grammys follow, where for each award a specialist committee comes together to make sure all the submitted artists fit the criteria."
Logemann suggests defining each category will benefits bands and future ARIA nominees.
"Music is always a tough thing to define and categorise, but this should help make sure it all fits the mould," he says.
"I’m also not saying King Gizzard didn’t deserve the win and they won fair and square considering that’s the way the votes went. I just think by defining the award and process a little more, everyone will feel a lot better about the way it all plays out in the future.
"As the great Tom Larkin of Shihad told me in 2014, Jethro Tull beat Metallica at the 1989 Grammy awards for the same award and this same conversation was happening all the way back then – 'It’s nothing new and I’m pretty sure Metallica are doing just fine right now'."
Co-managing director of Cooking Vinyl Australia, Stu Harvey, who has Aussie heavyweights Parkway Drive (the first-ever winners of the Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album in 2010) on his roster, has empathised with The Amity Affliction following their controversial comments.
"I can understand their frustration," Harvey tells The Music.
"I think the problem is that bands who end up in these categories don’t fit that genre.
"King Gizz are an amazing band, a fantastic band, but they’re a rock band," he says, adding they should have featured in the Best Rock Album category.
Harvey also backed Logemann's call on a change to the voting system.
"To me, I think there needs to be, I suppose, a sub-committee that just makes the call. Do these bands fit into this genre? Do they not?
"I think a lot of times labels and distributors will nominate… acts in categories they think they’ll have a better chance of winning then the category where they actually fit."
ARIA declined to comment when contacted by The Music.
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