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Following a successful inaugural year, the AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE (AMP) returns for 2006. LINDY MORRISON, board member of the Phonographic Performance Company Of Australia and, of course, former drummer for the Go-Betweens, talks about the PPCA’s role in providing the incredible $25,000 cash prize for the award, which aims to honour outstanding musical creativity.
Where did the idea for The Australian Music Prize come from? Scott Murphy, who was the founder of the AMP, came to see us at the PPCA – the PPCA’s a copyright collection society – and he came up with the idea. He wanted to base it on the Mercury Music Prize in Great Britain, and he wanted us to provide the money for the prize, and we just loved the idea. I particularly loved the idea; I just thought it was fantastic and I’m sorry I didn’t think of it! The PPCA collects the licence fees for the use of recordings, so when radio plays recordings, they pay a licence fee for the use of the copyright in that recording and we distribute the money to the recording artists that play on them and also to the record companies, so it was in PPCA’s interest to see that some value was put on recording artists that produce works that are excellent and profound and outside the mainstream. The Drones won the 2005 AMP for their album Wait Long By The River & The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By – which seems to validate the AMP’s brief of acknowledging artistic rather than commercial success. I was really happy that the Drones won – not only did I really like that album, but I saw in the Drones that they were a group who were down on their luck financially. They were a young group and in those formative years where every penny really helps, and where you’re putting out so much creative effort to produce the work with so little income coming in, that at times it’s almost impossible to imagine that you can continue. Who judges the AMP? There’ll be 100 judges this year, which is more than last year. They come from retailers, journalists and artists. Now there’s no recording industry people there; this is absolutely critical, because it must be kept away from any commercial imperative. This can’t be about commercial production values. What criteria is used to judge the recordings that are submitted? Don’t you think it’s impossibly difficult to discuss what makes a great piece of art? It’s really difficult to discuss what it is profound and evocative and what moves outside the mainstream and tells us something or reflects something about ourselves. I guess they’re values that make us realise that the work of art is unique and original and precious. It’s more about intuition and the way it makes the listener feel, and listeners often have expectations about what to expect from music, and if it doesn’t fulfil the listener’s expectation I think that’s sometimes a quality. Are there any restrictions on who can submit an album for judging? Well the album has to have been published, that is, it has to have been put out, but other than that it’s open to anyone, and so it bloody well should be! You can submit your entry now for the AMP 2006. Artists can enter by heading to www.australianmusicprize.com.au or the public site at www.myspace.com/theamp2006. Entries close on December 1 2006. The Shortlist 8 will be announced on January 31 2007, with the winner of the AMP 2006 announced at the winners’ event on March 7 2007.
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