ARIA Awards Add Category for Use of Aussie Music in Ads

The ARIA Awards will acknowledge the advertising industry’s efforts to use Australian music in their commercials with a new award joining the line-up next year.

The new award will recognise and celebrate the best use of Australian music in the creative and advertising industry.

In addition, ARIA, alongside Our Soundtrack Our Stories and M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, has launched Our Soundtrack Our Ads. The initiative is an extension of the Our Soundtrack Our Stories movement which launched in 2021, pushing for local businesses and the media to use more local music.

By extension, Our Soundtrack Our Ads will call on the Australian creative and advertising industry to pledge their support to homegrown music and take action by investing their music budgets into homegrown artists.

Holly Rankin, who performs as Jack River, spearheaded the local push for more businesses and media to support Australian music last year. She has also thrown her support behind this campaign.

“Our Soundtrack Our Ads is an exciting opportunity for brands, creatives and the music industry to unite with a common goal of championing local music and local storytelling,” she said.

“We have such amazing talent here in our backyard, so getting to hear new and upcoming voices across more commercials, social media campaigns and creative content is exciting for the next generation of artists, brands and music lovers alike.”

Annabelle Herd, CEO of ARIA, said she’s thrilled to celebrate talent and creativity across the music and advertising industries with this first-of-its-kind award.

“Advertising has such an important role in impacting change across society. It creates ideas and tells stories that leave an important mark on culture. Music is no different,” she said.

“With the support and influence of Australia’s advertising industry, we can continue to create opportunities for Australian music to be heard in all its forms, by all who create it. Australia already has so many internationally acclaimed artists who have featured in successful campaigns across the world, it’s time to recognise that on our own shores and soundtrack Australian lives with Australian music.”

Saynaree Oudomvilay, senior account director at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, added: “Our work can play a role in discovering and partnering with artists and music that become the backing tracks to iconic moments in Australia’s culture, and can be heard and recognised in almost every Aussie household. It only makes sense that we give our homegrown talent the opportunity to feature in our work, and get the recognition they deserve. “

We formed Our Soundtrack Our Ads to give the industry an opportunity to commit to investing its stock music budgets to champion up and coming artists, and show our support for the future of the Australian musicians and artists.”

Brands and agencies can read more about the Our Soundtrack Our Ads initiative and pledge their support here.

The first award for this initiative will be awarded in 2023. The 2022 ARIA Awards take place tonight.