If you were one of the just under one million viewers that caught the 56th Logie Awards broadcast on the Nine Network last night, you likely weren’t the only one dismayed by the severe disconnect between an awards ceremony that supposed to support and celebrate Australian content and the distinct lack of what is one of this country’s biggest cultural assets. Australian music.
While the Logies has increasingly each year become more of a way for the television industry to congratulate itself on producing content and celebrities for the local screen, it seems to increasingly ignore Australian music in favour of international entertainers and formats.
Just as last year’s ceremony was an embarrassing showcase that championed talent shows (with Good Charlotte mouthpiece Joel Madden even walking away with a gong for The Voice), last night’s Logies at the Crown Complex’s Palladium was more concerned with celebrating international chart-bothering pop stars like Ed Sheeran, Jason DeRulo, and the abysmal MKTO, than anything local.
The only Aussie representatives among the Logies 2014 performances being two highly conservative selections: heritage matriarchs Kylie Minogue and Tina Arena, neither of which are arguably at stellar points in their respective careers.
Furthermore, neither artist is even based in Australia anymore. ‘Our’ Kylie has long called London her adopted home, while Arena has shunned Australia in favour of France for the better part of 20 years in order to further her career (to be fair, that’s due to the inherent misogyny of the Australian music industry, but that’s another story).
So TV’s night of nights, constructed by commercial interests for commercial interests, goes for the safe option for its musical entertainment. No surprise. Big deal. So what, right? There’s a wealth of local talent that are deserving of the some-million viewers that the Logies regularly draws.
Well, it wouldn’t be such an issue except for the fact that not only are Aussie musicians starving for an opportunity to perform on national television, but there’s a wealth of local talent that are deserving of the some-million viewers that the Logies regularly draws.
The counter-argument would be that the ARIAs should fulfil that role, providing the broadcast platform for the Australian music industry’s talent. But while the ARIAs has improved its focus on local artists it depressingly no longer captures the audience of millions it used to.
Last December’s 2013 ARIA Awards may have capitalised on live performances from Aussie successes like Flume, Tame Impala, and Bliss N Eso alongside international guests Lorde and Alicia Keys, but it depressingly only captured viewing figures of 337,000, a significant drop from the over 2 million Aussies that tuned in as recently as 2005.
While Tone Deaf’s Nichols Jones has previously implored for the ARIAs to stop broadcasting altogether due to its nadir of failing ratings and lack of purpose, the ARIAs has at least sought to improve its focus and involve local talent even as its audience has fallen to well below half since the glory days of the mid-oughties (discounting when host Axle Whitehead flashed onstage in 2006).
All which serves to indicate just how badly ARIA’s television counterpart, The Logies, fails to even account for Australian music, let alone represent it among the raft of Logie nominated TV talent quests like The Voice and The X Factor (which thankfully at least, lost out the ‘Light Entertainment’ category to Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year Asia).
To quote our dismay of last year’s Logies disgrace,”you would think that if there was any industry that would understand the importance of supporting the local arts and creative community, it would be television; an industry that relies upon Government support and regulation to keep local production alive.”
So why does great local talent continue to get overlooked in favour of major-label signed American acts, like RnB poppet Jason DeRulo, who turned in an ear-battering medley of his ‘hits’ to open the ceremony. Why is an Australian ceremony opening with an overseas act? Why is it betraying well-deserving local artists for such a coveted slot?
The answer obviously lies in the commercial chase for advertising dollars and TV ratings, using international ‘stars’ to boost viewer numbers – thus the spotlight given to ginger-haired unit shifter Ed Sheeran and radio friendly UK neo-soul singer John Newman, both following on from last year’s similar British ambassadors for the Logies, Birdy and Olly Murs.
But even to that end, the formula failed the Logies. Last night’s Nine broadcast tanked, coming eighth in the TV ratings as it drew 962,000 viewers as The Herald Sun reports. We can’t help but wonder if those figures would have been vastly improved if some of Australia’s biggest international success stories of the last year had the chance to strut their musical stuff. And in fact, The Logies producers would be spoiled for choice if they actually bothered to investigate.
What about the ream of artists that have made huge waves overseas in the last year – like Jagwar Ma, Courtney Barnett, The Preatures, Cut Copy, Chet Faker, Flume, Vance Joy. And what about commercially viable and consistently successful acts like John Butler Trio and Birds Of Tokyo. Why is American TV savvy to the talent coming from Australia yet one of our country’s seemingly most important events in the entertainment world can’t offer even one spot?
The biggest insult is that many of these acts are considered more than appropriate over on mainstream US television. In the last few months we’ve seen John Butler impress Conan O’Brien, Birds Of Tokyo nail it for Jimmy Fallon, and just this past weekend, Courtney Barnett winning over Jimmy Fallon’s sizeable network TV audience.
So why is American TV savvy to the talent coming from Australia yet one of our country’s seemingly most important events in the entertainment world can’t offer even one spot (among six slots in last night’s broadcast) to promote Australian talent?
Even the excuse of successful Aussie acts being ‘too indie’ simply doesn’t hold water anymore. Just this week, Brisbane indie six-piece Sheppard scored the longest local independent #1 single ever, with their tune ‘Geronimo’ being the first multi-week Aussie single to hit #1 since Guy Sebastian’s ‘Battle Scars’ in August 2012.
Wouldn’t last night’s Logies looked far more promising and patriotic if Sheppard had opened the ceremony promoting their enviable accolade than DeRulo’s audible mess?
The Logies lack of local support is symptomatic of a continued downward spiral of Aussie television’s near disregard of it’s own country’s music and performers.
Public and community broadcasters continue to be the reliable spotlight for Aussie music-makers, with SBS’s RockWiz and the new-look Spicks & Specks on ABC providing a music quiz chair for Australian musicians as well as the occasional performance. Kudos too to Channel 31’s SYN-produced daily music show, 1700 and the Foxtel-only Studio At The Memo – a cabaret variety show starring You Am I Frontman Tim Rogers and a cavalcade of musical guests.
But these opportunities are few and far between, often leading to Aussies taking what little there is that’s going around, which can often lead to awkward mismatches that only hurt the development of music television. Case in point: when Kate Miller-Heidke was criticised for her supposedly apathetic turn on Q&A in 2012, defending her appearance by saying: “opportunities to play songs on TV in Australia are scarce. It’s pretty much morning television or Gordon St Tonight [which is now no more]. Or Q and A.”
This doesn’t, and shouldn’t, be the case anymore. As the presence of Aussies on the charts and on American television proves, there’s a goldmine of great music just waiting to be tapped by local television producers and networks.
This past weekend saw the launch of a new music TV show hosted by mid-morning larrakin (and Gold Logie winner no less) Karl Stefanovic, which could be seen as a step (albeit it a small one) in the right direction, but as last night’s cringeworthy Logies demonstrated, there’s still a long way to go. But it’s a disgrace that needs to be corrected.
As Australian TV’s actors, producers, and industry recover from their collective hangover, it’s time their post-party heads are rattled with a loud and clear message to shake them out of their stupor. Local Australian music and culture deserves to be supported, and Australian television needs to start playing a part in enabling that to happen.
