| |
---|---|
Frequency | DAB (ABC/SBS multiplex) |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Format | Independent Australian music |
Ownership | |
Owner | Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
History | |
Founded | 1995 (as talent competition) |
First air date | 5 October 2011 |
Links | |
Website | triplejunearthed |
Triple J Unearthed is an Australian digital radio station and online music discovery platform. It is a sister station of Triple J, owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Unearthed began in 1995 as a regional talent competition open to unsigned musicians. In 2006, the Unearthed website was launched as a way for local artists to have their music heard by the station's team and listeners. As of 2023, the platform hosts over 170,000 tracks from over 85,000 independent musicians. Its success led to the launch of a dedicated digital radio station in 2011, which only plays Australian music uploaded to the site.
Cited as a "revolutionary idea" that "arguably changed the entire Australian music landscape," [1] the Unearthed brand has been responsible for discovering some of Australia's most celebrated musical acts, including Flume, Missy Higgins, Vance Joy, Gang of Youths and Grinspoon. The network continues to host initiatives to progress independent artists in the industry, including Unearthed High, an annual award given to high school musicians to have their work recorded professionally.
In July 1995, Triple J launched its regional Unearthed competition, [3] asking independent musicians to send in their demos. The winner's track would be professionally recorded and played on the station. [4]
Over the years, several now-notable Australian artists had been discovered through the initiative, including Missy Higgins (2001), Killing Heidi (1996) and Grinspoon, the first winners in 1995. [3] [5] As of 2006, Triple J had travelled to over 43 regions around Australia and "unearthed" over 100 bands, most of which had gone on to independently release albums and score distribution deals. [3]
In 2006, former Triple J manager Linda Bracken ideated an online platform that would allow unsigned musicians to be heard by the station's team, as well as by listeners. [6] She was inspired by the similar New Music Canada initiative by CBC Radio 3.
The future of a band's success in Australia shouldn't rely on someone's ability to hire a publicist and an A&R guy.
— Linda Bracken
WIth funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, [3] Bracken and software engineer Ann Chesterman – who saw the idea as "being at the heart of the ecosystem of Australian music" – built a prototype for the Unearthed website. [6] The site's launch, on 9 August 2006, marked "a new beginning" for the Unearthed brand. [3] Thousands of tracks were uploaded within the first week of the site being online. [6] By 2010, about 100 songs were being uploaded onto the Unearthed website every day. [6] As of 2023, it hosts over 170,000 tracks from over 85,000 independent musicians. [7]
In 2021, the website received its first major redesign since its initial launch. [8]
Seeing the success of the website, Unearthed executive producer Stephanie Carrick and ABC Music director Chris Scaddan ideated with creating a dedicated digital radio station to accompany the online platform. It was launched on 5 October 2011, [9] on digital radio in the five major Australian capital cities, and via the Unearthed website. [10]
Every year since 2008, Triple J Unearthed has held a competition aimed at musicians and bands in high school. The winner receives mentoring, recording opportunities and airplay on Triple J. Recent acts to have found success with the initiative include Hockey Dad (2014), The Kid Laroi (2018), Genesis Owusu (2015) Japanese Wallpaper (2014) and Gretta Ray (2016). [13]
Celebrating 15 years of the competition in 2023, Triple J held a one-night, all-ages concert during Vivid Sydney featuring notable past entrants, including Lastlings and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. [13]
Year | Winner | Notable finalists | Indigenous Initiative Winner |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Tom Ugly | – | – |
2009 | Hunting Grounds | – | – |
2010 | Stonefield | – | – |
2011 | Snakadaktal | – | – |
2012 | Asta | Montaigne | – |
2013 | Lunatics on Pogosticks | Vancouver Sleep Clinic | – |
2014 | Japanese Wallpaper | Hockey Dad | – |
2015 | Mosquito Coast | Genesis Owusu | – |
2016 | Gretta Ray | Lastlings, Ninajirachi | Tia Gostelow |
2017 | Arno Faraji | Ninajirachi | Becca Hatch |
2018 | Kian | The Kid Laroi | River & Isles |
2019 | George Alice | – | Aodhan |
2020 | Teenage Joans | – | Rudeboy E |
2021 | The Rions | – | Kayps |
2022 | Jacoténe | – | Proud Noongar Boys |
2023 | Lee | – | Inkabee |
As an extension of Unearthed High, the Indigenous Initiative commemorates the best First Nations artist. Notable past winners have included Aodhan (2019), Becca Hatch (2017) and Tia Gostelow (2016). [14] The network also holds an annual competition open to Indigenous Australian artists, with the winner selected to play at the National Indigenous Music Awards. Past winners have included Thelma Plum, Baker Boy, Alice Skye and Dallas Woods. [15] [16] Unearthed has also run a number of First Nations specific competitions that has seen artists added to festivals such as First & Forever and Treaty Day Out. [17]
Triple J often holds competitions that see a winning Unearthed artist join a major music festival's lineup. In the past, winners have performed at Splendour in the Grass, [18] Groovin' the Moo, [19] Falls Festival, [20] Big Day Out, Laneway Festival and A More Perfect Union. [21]
Unearthed occasionally run competitions where winning artists can work with renowned producers or songwriters. [22] In 2023, Flume released a half-finished track, and Unearthed artists were encouraged to share how they would complete the song to win – the final track, produced by Blacktown rapper Isaac Puerile, received national airplay. [23] [24] The same year, Unearthed artists were given the opportunity to work with award-winning songwriter Sarah Aarons. [25]
In the past, these competitions have also seen entrants remix songs from Lorde and DMA's, [26] [27] as well as creating "DIY supergroups" out of samples from notable artists provided by Triple J. [28]
In June 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Unearthed handed out 16 grants to artists on the platform valued at $7,000 each, to record new music, produce music videos and promote their work. [29]
Writing for online magazine Tone Deaf in 2022, Holley Gawne wrote triple j has been "so successful ... in boosting the profiles of some of the industry’s biggest and brightest." [30] Triple j music director Ruby Howe said Unearthed "was a pretty revolutionary idea." [1]
In its first form as a regional talent competition, Unearthed discovered then-local musicians Missy Higgins and Sophie Koh, and bands Grinspoon, Killing Heidi and Sick Puppies. [1]
The launch of the website led to the rise of hundreds of more artists and according to The Music, "arguably changed the entire Australian music landscape." [1] Flume, one of the "world's most prominent producers" according to Rolling Stone , [31] debuted with a single on Unearthed titled "Possum" in 2011. [30] Brisbane indie pop band Ball Park Music began uploading to the site in 2008, [30] while Gang of Youths uploaded a demo as well as their debut single "Evangelists" in 2013. [22]
When a then-unsigned Vance Joy uploaded "Riptide" to the platform, Howe said his team played the track "about 100 times on Unearthed radio" prior to its enormous success – the track is now certified 16× platinum and ended up polling at number one in the Hottest 100 of 2013. [1]
Triple J is a government-funded, national Australian radio station that began broadcasting in January 1975, intended to appeal to young listeners of alternative music. The network also places a greater emphasis on playing Australian content compared to commercial stations. The station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly funded national Australian youth radio station Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the year in an online poll conducted two weeks prior to the new year.
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales, formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, Grinspoon won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore, with their post-grunge song "Sickfest". The name "Grinspoon" was taken from Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who supported marijuana for medical use.
Falls Music & Arts Festival is a multi-day music festival held annually in Byron Bay and Fremantle, Australia over the New Year's Eve and January period. The festival hosts contemporary music performances, dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other art forms. Camping is available and all locations have nearby beaches which are either walking distance or a short bus ride away. Artists playing at the festival include rock, hip-hop, indie music, electronic music, blues and roots.
Richard Kingsmill is an Australian radio announcer, music journalist and currently Group Music Director of triple j, triple j Unearthed, Double J and ABC Local Radio.
The 2004 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 26 January 2005. It was the twelfth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J.
The Sound of White is the debut studio album by Australian pop singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released 6 September 2004 by Eleven. It won the 2005 ARIA Music Award for Best Female Artist. Higgins had secured recording contracts with Eleven and Warner Bros. while still in high school, after winning a competition for unsigned artists run by radio station Triple J. Her winning song, "All For Believing", is included on this album. After a backpacking trip in 2002, Higgins toured and wrote songs during 2003. She wrote most tracks alone and collaborated on three songs, with Kevin Griffin, Jay Clifford and Clif Magness respectively. The Sound of White was recorded in 2004 with producer John Porter.
The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J, Triple J Unearthed and Double J The awards are given in an on-air ceremony held in November each year as part of triple j's AusMusic Month.
Double J is an Australian digital radio station owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is positioned as a spin-off of the youth-oriented Triple J catered towards an older adult audience, emphasizing genres such as pop, rock, blues, country, soul, jazz and world music, as well as archive content from the parent station's library. Currently it is mostly automated, but has a few regular live programs.
Grinspoon EP, also known as the Green EP, is the debut extended play by the Australian band Grinspoon. The six-track EP was recorded over two weeks at Grevillia Studios in Brisbane in July 1995, with producer, Ramesh Sathiah, and was released on 1 August 1995 via local independent record label, Oracle Records.
Triple J's One Night Stand is a concert hosted in a remote town or city in Australia annually. It is promoted and organised by national radio station triple j. In previous years, the host town was selected in the form of a competition where residents of the town must gain approval from local government and a venue. For the 2009 event, triple j itself simply decided to host the event in Sale. The station arranges the artists to perform – usually four high-profile Australian bands of a variety of genres.
Melissa Morrison Higgins is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her Australian number-one albums are The Sound of White (2004), On a Clear Night (2007) and The Ol' Razzle Dazzle (2012), and her singles include "Scar", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". Higgins was nominated for five ARIA Music Awards in 2004 and won 'Best Pop Release' for "Scar". In 2005, she was nominated for seven more awards and won five. Higgins won her seventh ARIA in 2007. Her third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle, was released in Australia in June 2012. As of August 2014, Higgins' first three studio albums had sold over one million units.
Emma Louise Lobb, who performs as Emma Louise, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter from Cairns. She is best known for her 2011 debut single "Jungle". Two studio albums, Vs Head vs Heart and Supercry, have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 15. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 she was nominated for Best Female Artist.
Tommaso Parisi, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and producer. He formed the band [is], which was later renamed, Tom Ugly. By 2009 he adopted the performance name, Tom Ugly, for himself. He issued a self-titled debut extended play in August 2009, which reached No. 23 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart.
Harley Edward Streten, known professionally as Flume, is an Australian musician, DJ, and record producer. He is regarded as a pioneer of future bass who helped popularise the genre. His self-titled debut studio album, Flume, was released in 2012 to positive reviews, topping the ARIA Albums Chart and reaching double-platinum accreditation in Australia.
The Preatures were an Australian indie rock band from Sydney, New South Wales, who formed in 2010. The band consisted of lead vocalist and keyboardist Isabella "Izzi" Manfredi, guitarist and vocalist Jack Moffitt, bassist Thomas Champion, and drummer Luke Davison. Vocalist and guitarist Gideon Bensen was a member of the band until 2016. In 2013, the Preatures won the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition with their song "Is This How You Feel?" They disbanded in 2021, following the launch of Manfredi's solo career.
Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper.
The 2016 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2017. It is the 24th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J.
The Special Ones is the first greatest hits album by Australian singer songwriter, Missy Higgins. The album includes tracks from Higgins' five studio albums as well as three new unreleased tracks and the previously unreleased demo of "All for Believing" she submitted to Triple J Unearthed competition in 2001. The Special Ones was released on 23 November 2018.
Sasha McLeod, known professionally as Sycco, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter and producer from Brisbane. She was nominated for Triple J Unearthed Artist of the Year in 2020, having released the pop singles "Nicotine" and "Dribble" in the same year.
Established in 1995, triple j Unearthed has kicked off the careers of thousands of Australian musicians. With over 170,000 tracks from around 85,000 different artists, it"s also the spot to meet your new favourite artist.