History
The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hotel in Sydney on 29 November 2006 and sponsored by V energy drinks. The following awards ceremonies were held between October and December in Melbourne, Victoria from 2007 to 2015. In December 2008 it was announced thatCriteria
The AIR Independent Music Awards are co-ordinated by The Australian Independent Record Labels Association), a non-profit, member-owned organisation representing Australia's independent recording sector. Since 2017, Nominees for the Awards must be released between the period 1 January to 31 December, preceding the Awards. All nominees must be Australian artists, must be self-released or released on an Australian independent label. All nominated master recordings must be entirely owned by an Australian artist or Australian Independent Label. For the purposes of these awards, Australian Independent Labels are businesses that are not owned in part or whole by one of the three major labels. For the avoidance of doubt, if an Australian Independent Label chooses to distribute it's catalogue through a third-party major label, they will remain eligible for the awards.Judging process
The AIR invites all of its artist, associate, full and distributor members to put forward releases from the eligibility period for a long-list and releases which have charted in the AIR Music Charts during the eligibility period are also eligible for the long-list. The long list is presented to a voting academy of approximately 400 judges. The judging pool includes broadcasters (community radio, commercial radio, ABC Radio, music television channels and ABC television), artists, online music media, newspapers, AIR Members and other independent music industry representatives. Judges choose their three favourite releases across the following categories: * ''Independent Album of the Year'' * ''Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year'' * ''Independent Song of the Year'' * ''Best Independent Hip Hop Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Soul or R&B Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Country Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Blues & Roots Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Pop Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Punk Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Rock Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Heavy Album/EP'' There are also specialist voting academies for: * ''Best Independent Children's Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Classical Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Dance, Electronica, or Club Album/EP'' * ''Best Independent Dance, Electronica, or Club Single'' * ''Best Independent Jazz Album/EP''Categories
In the inaugural edition, four awards were presented, ''Best Performing Independent Album'', ''Best Performing Independent Single/EP'', ''Best Performing Independent Single/EP'' and ''Best New Independent Artist''. The "performing" element was dropped from the award the following year. Genre specific awards were introduced from 2007. The award for ''Best New Independent Artist'' changed to ''Breakthrough Independent Artist'' in 2009.See also
*References
{{Authority control 2006 establishments in Australia Australian music awards Awards established in 2006 Recurring events established in 2006