Members Of Sheppard, Sneaky Sound System's Connie Mitchell & Others Receive Billions Award From APRA AMCOS

"We’re incredibly proud to have been able to support these eight members throughout their careers," said Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS.

Sheppard

Eight Australian songwriters have been bestowed the prestigious Billions Award from APRA AMCOS this week. They are Amy and George Sheppard, Connie Mitchell, Jay Bovino, Kota Banks, Sarah Aarons, Stuart Crichton, and Taka Perry.

Songwriter members of APRA AMCOS and their publishers are given the Billions Award after a song surpasses one billion streams, taking in play counts from streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

Global hitmaker Sarah Aarons took home two awards for I Miss U, I’m Sorry – co written with and performed by Gracie Abrams – and Love Me Not – performed by Ravyn Lenae and co-written alongside Anderson .Paak, Brent Reynolds, Christian Farlow, Craig Balmoris, Dahi, Dominic Angelella, Jaelen Irizarry, Julian Nixon and Spencer Stewart. Aarons’ catalogue is published by Sony Music Publishing.

Amy and George Sheppard, known for their works in the Brisbane indie-pop family outfit Sheppard, along with co-writer Jay Bovino, have taken home their first Billions Award for Geronimo. The siblings are published by Mushroom Music Publishing.

Elsewhere, Sneaky Sound System’s Connie Mitchell received the award for the 2007 song, Can’t Tell Me Nothing, which she co-wrote with DJ Toomp and Kanye West. Kota Banks (Gaga Music) and Taka Perry (Concord Music Publishing ANZ) also won the award after collaborating on the song TOUCH, which became a mega hit performed by KATSEYE. They wrote the song along with Blake Slatkin, Caroline Ailin, Magnus Holberg and Omer Fedi.

Lastly, Los Angeles-based, Scottish songwriter Stuart Crichton – who made Australia his home in the 2000s – has won the Billions Award for the 2017 track Stargazing, performed by Kygo. He co-wrote the song with Kygo, Jamie Hartman and Justin Jesso.

“When APRA’s founding publishers first met 100 years ago in 1926, they could never have imagined we’d be here in 2026 celebrating songwriters and publishers for reaching one billion streams,” said Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS.

He continued, “It’s an extraordinary achievement, especially given the sheer volume of music released every day – both human and AI-generated. We’re incredibly proud to have been able to support these eight members throughout their careers and now see their songs connecting with huge audiences around the world.”

Discussing the impact of Geronimo on his career, George Sheppard said, “It’s been an amazing journey for us, and to have the amazing team that we’ve had, getting to bring joy to people for the last 14 years, it’s a dream come true. Thank you so much for this amazing honour.”

Taka Perry added, “We wrote TOUCH a few years ago at my old studio in Glebe. At the time, I was a huge K-pop fan, and I wanted to write some K-pop demos.

“I hit up Kota (Banks), and I was like, ‘Do you want to come to the studio and work on a few songs together?’ And one of those songs was TOUCH. I think we probably wrote it in an hour or two. It was just one of those things where it was the right song, in the right place.”

You can find out more about the Billions Award and previous winners here.