New Naming Rights Sponsor Steps In For The Australian Music Prize

The Australian Music Prize has today announced SoundMerch as its new naming rights sponsor. 

The prize, which sees industry judges vote to decide the year's best Australian album, is now in its 16th year and will see SoundMerch offer a $20,000 cash prize. 

SoundMerch are also selling a range of The AMP themed merch, with 70% of all profits going "directly to the artists through prize money and marketing of the albums".

“We’ve had a great year and would like to give something back to Australian artists given most of them haven’t had a great year," said SoundMerch CEO Tim Everist. 

"Doing this through The AMP also helps promote a healthy music scene which in turn helps SoundMerch."

“It's admirable of Tim to stand up to declare he’s making money from Aussie music and therefore he wants to give back and support the artists, I urge artists to work with companies like this," added The AMP founder and prize director Scott B Murphy. 

"SoundMerch’s support means we can guarantee a cash prize of $20,000 and if our t-shirt sales continue, we may even be able to offer more funds for those artists making great albums."

Last year saw Sampa The Great take out the prize with her album, The Return. Sampa The Great previously won the award with her Birds & The BEE9 in 2017. Other winners include AB Original, Gurrumul, Courtney Barnett, The Jezabels and more. 

There are over 50 albums that have made this year's longlist so far, with more to be announced in December. See the list below.

2020 Australian Music Prize Nominations (So Far)

#1 Dads — Golden Repair
5 Seconds Of Summer — Calm
Alice Ivy — Don't Sleep
Andras — Joyful
Andrew Tuttle — Alexandra
Banoffee — Look At Us Now Dad
Big Yawn — No!
Boomalli — The Promise
Cable Ties — Far Enough
Caiti Baker — Mary Of The North
Clamm — Beseech Me
DMAs — The Glow
e4444e — Coldstream Road
Eddy Current Suppression Ring — All In Good Time
Fanny Lumsden — Fallow
Good Boy — It Takes A Lot Of Skill To Milk A Mare
Gordi — Our Two Skins
Gordon Koang — Unity
Gum — Out In The World
Jack Colwell — Swandream
Jess Cornelius — Distance
Karate Boogaloo — Carn The Boogers
Katie Dey — Mydata
L-Fresh The Lion — South West
Loser — Mindless Joy
Luke Howard — The Sand That Ate The Sea
Mark Seymour & The Undertow — Slow Dawn
Miiesha — Nyaaringu
Mild Minds — Mood
Nat Vazer — Is This Offensive And Loud?
Nick Griffith — 7AM
Party Dozen — Pray For Party Dozen
Primo! — Sogni
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever — Sideways To New Italy
Roza Terenzi — Modern Bliss
RVG — Feral
Sarah Mary Chadwick — Please Daddy
Shepparton Airplane — Sharks
Simona Castricum — Panic/Desire
Snowy Band — Audio Commentary
Sophie Hutchings — Scattered On The Wind
Stevan — Just Kids
Sweet Whirl — How Much Works
Tame Impala — The Slow Rush
The Chats — High Risk Behaviour
The Friends Of David McComb — Truckload Of Sky
The Necks — Three
Tracy Mc Neil & The Goodlife — You Be The Lightning
Traffik Island — Sweat Kollecta's Peanut Butter Traffik Jam
Vanessa Perica Orchestra — Love Is A Temporary Madness
Violent Soho — Everything Is A-OK
Ziggy Ramo — Black Thoughts