Celebrating Australian Music

Event producer of the ARIA Awards was turned over to long-time Director of Operations Michael Long in 2012; he learnt a lot in his 11 years working for the event and now as head honcho he's keeping his eyes pointed firmly forward.

“2010 keeps coming up and hopefully after this year it will go away ,” Long chuckles. “There were some huge lessons to be learnt from 2010. 2011 back at Allphones Arena was a step up. 2012, last year, at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, again was a great event. I think it's always been focused on what we're celebrating and that is Australian music, the success of it not only in this country but internationally and that's only growing stronger and stronger. When we had the nominations this year most of the nominated artists were touring and traveling overseas which is fantastic for Australian music.”

Long's been a part of the ARIAs and the live music scene for decades and was a Zeppelin fan when he was growing up; he started out working with a band called Street Level for $10 a night, where they'd start work at midday and then finish at 4am the next morning, then moved on to work with the likes of a young Icehouse (then named Flowers), Cold Chisel and INXS. Even then he was in awe of the commitment of Australian artists to their craft.

“I think Australian musicians know how to work hard and get out there and pay their dues playing in all the small clubs and pubs around the country. If they get the opportunity to work overseas then doing the hard yards over there is second nature to them. They're very persistent and I think the live Australian music scene gives bands and the artists an opportunity to hone in on their skills and be great live performers. I think Australian artists are some of the best live performers in the world.

“What I think is amazing about Australians is they have 100 per cent commitment when they walk on stage. I think that still shows today with the success of the artists that we're celebrating this year at the ARIA Awards because they consistently tour overseas. Tame Impala are one of those; they were in South America during the nominations and they're currently in America.”

This year the ARIAs are all about the artists, and recognising their pivotal contribution to our flourishing music industry, with performances from the likes of Flume and Tame Impala. “It's really just being proud of being Australian and of musicians because they're out there scoring huge goals.”

But the people at home also have to be involved, and the ARIA team are working on ways to keep the audience engaged. “We're engaging social media this year, definitely, and RDIO is streaming the performances as well. We're trying to engage music fans as much as possible.

“I think [viewer engagement] is something every music show works on time and time again and I think that our line-up this year is unbelievable... It's a fantastic line-up that we've got this year and I think [it] will be compelling. We're working on some ideas of expanding things next year to create more interaction with the industry and the general public.”

But Long acknowledges that there is always room to reflect to make the event better.

“2012 was my first year as the event producer but it was my 11th year working on the ARIAs with Mark Pope. I had a great team and it was very successful... But we're looking at the things that worked and didn't work and trying to improve on those. With anything there's always room for improvement.”