ABC denies documents on Taylor Swift Hottest 100 disqualification

The ABC has refused to release documents on why Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off was disqualified from triple j’s Hottest 100. The #Tay4Hottest100 campaign, spearheaded by BuzzFeed Australia in January, notched up enough votes to frisbee the song into the #12 spot.

At the time, reasons given by triple j were that it never played the track in 2014. But listeners pointed that the #9 track, Sia’s Chandelier, was not on rotation in 2014 either. What had been aired was a cover. The station argued that the Sia version had been played on dance shows and mixtapes.

Another reason given was that involvement “by commercial interests” in the Swift campaign contravened Hottest 100 rules. In this case it was fast-food chain KFC tweeting to customers, "The #Tay4Hottest100 campaign is going strong and she's got our vote. Tell us which Taylor song is your favourite for your chance to win a voucher for $19.89."

Finally, triple j released a tongue-in-cheek list of reasons behind the song’s last-minute exclusion. Such was the heat of the whole Shake It Off saga that the triple j site crashed minutes after its reasons list was posted.

The Swift ban led to disquiet that it cast doubts on the Hottest 100 credibility if it was catering for the hip cool crowd. The way triple j handled the whole issue also came under criticism from listeners and non-listeners.

There were four Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests to the ABC to obtain relevant documents on the issue. One was from The Guardian Australia.

In two instances, the ABC invoked the clause in the Freedom of Information Act that it does not have to divulge documents acquired or created during the making of a program. It has been usually evoked for political broadcasts. In another, they released some material essentially emails from January explaining why no comments were to be made.

According to The Guardian Australia, the ABC’s corporate governance head, Judith Maude, said part of The Guardian Australia’s request involved documents that “would not have been created but for Triple J’s Hottest 100 broadcast”, and so the ABC did not have to release them.

Alanis Morissette, Green Day, U2 and the Foo Fighters have all appeared in previous polls with songs that the station had not played, The Guardian Australia reported during the heated debate.