Each year, APRA AMCOS, who together are responsible for the non-profit collection and distribution of songwriting royalties to songsmiths around Australia, host the annual APRA Music Awards, shining a light on the country’s best songwriters.
This year’s winners included Sheppard, 5 Seconds of Summer, Illy, M-Phazes, Angus and Julia Stone, and Aussie golden girl Sia, who made history by winning the Songwriter of the Year award for the third year in a row.
“Sia is the first songwriter in the history of the APRA Music Awards to win the Songwriter of the Year three years in a row. This is an unprecedented, and very likely, a never-to-be-repeated achievement by one of our most talented songwriters,” said APRA AMCOS CEO Brett Cottle.
“Sia has been an APRA member since 1996 and was a co-winner of the inaugural Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year Award in 2002. Since then she has become one of the most successful and acclaimed songwriters of her era. We’re incredibly proud of her achievements and honoured to represent her.”
Sia, along with co-writer Jesse Shatkin, also took out the peer-voted APRA Song of the Year award for her runaway smash hit ‘Chandelier’, which gives the 39-year-old Adelaide native a grand total of six APRA Music Awards.
The ‘Chandelier’ and ‘Elastic Heart’ hit-maker was not in attendance at the ceremony and so accepted the award via video, with Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz appearing in her stead (for some reason). Readers can check out the clip below.
Meanwhile, 5 Seconds of Summer picked up the award for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year, swiftly rising up-and-comers Sheppard nabbed Pop Work of the Year and Most Played Australian Work, and Illy and M-Phazes took out the Urban Work of the Year category.
The ceremony featured exclusive performances from Daniel Johns, who played his new single ‘Preach’ for the first time, Kasey Chambers and Bernard Fanning, Jimmy Barnes and Diesel, who covered ‘Chandelier’, and Kingswood who covered an AC/DC classic.
While we couldn’t be happier for Sia, and indeed all of the evening’s winners, the fact that Sia has won the award a staggering three years in a row does raise a few sobering questions about the state of Aussie music.
Since APRA AMCOS are the country’s only artist royalty collection agency, boasting approximately 87,000 songwriter, composer, and music publisher members, and around 3,000,000 copyright owners worldwide, one would think that there’d be a wealth of talent for APRA to consider.
However, for the third year in a row, Sia, an artist who, it bears remembering, does not live in Australia, has been the only artist seemingly deserving of the title Songwriter of the Year.
The issue at hand is not that she isn’t. After all, Sia is inarguably one of the best songwriters that Australia has ever produced and obviously her overseas residence is a necessity for someone whose income comes from penning hits for Beyonce and US other artists.
That said, it’s becoming clearer that there needs to be a conversation about why the award hasn’t gone to another equally deserving, homegrown, locally-based artist. If there are none out there, then something needs to be done.
Song of the Year
Title: ‘Chandelier’
Artist: Sia
Writers: Sia Furler / Jesse Shatkin (ASCAP)
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd
Songwriter of the Year
Sia
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd
Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year
Writers: Michael Clifford / Luke Hemmings / Calum Hood / Ashton Irwin (5 Seconds of Summer)
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) P/L
Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music
Fifa Riccobono
Most Played Australian Work
Title: ‘Geronimo’
Artist: Sheppard
Writers: Jason Bovino / Amy Sheppard / George Sheppard
Publishers: Mushroom Music Pty Ltd obo Empire of Song (Australia) Pty Ltd
Blues & Roots Work of the Year
Title: ‘Heart Beats Slow’
Artist: Angus & Julia Stone
Writers: Angus Stone / Julia Stone
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd
Country Work of the Year
Title: ‘Give Her the World’
Artist: Adam Eckersley Band
Writers: Adam Eckersley / Danelle Leverett* (ASCAP) / Jason Reeves* (ASCAP)
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd*
Dance Work of the Year
Title: ‘Swing (Joel Fletcher Remix)’
Artist: Joel Fletcher feat. Savage>
Writers: Joel Fletcher Allan* / Demetrius Savelio / Nathan Holmes / Aaron Ngawhika
Publishers: 120 Publishing Pty Ltd* / Universal Music Publishing Pty Ltd
Pop Work of the Year
Title: ‘Geronimo’
Artist: Sheppard
Writers: Jason Bovino / Amy Sheppard / George Sheppard
Publishers: Mushroom Music Pty Ltd obo Empire of Song (Australia) Pty Ltd
Rock Work of the Year
Title: ‘Love You Deserve’
Artist: Stonefield
Writers: Amy Findlay / Hannah Findlay / Holly Findlay / Sarah Findlay
Publisher: Mushroom Music Pty Ltd
Urban Work of the Year
Title: ‘Tightrope’
Artist: Illy feat. Scarlett Stevens
Writers: Illy / M-Phazes*
Publishers: Mushroom Music Pty Ltd obo WAU Publishing / Mushroom Music Pty Ltd*
Most Played Australian Work Overseas
Title: ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’
Artist: Gotye featuring Kimbra
Writers: Wally de Backer / Luiz Bonfa*
Publishers: J Albert and Son Pty Ltd / Kobalt Music Publishing Australia / Warner/Chappell Music Australia Pty Ltd*
International Work of the Year
Title: ‘Happy’
Artist: Pharrell Williams
Writer: Pharrell Williams
Publishers: Universal/MCA Music Publishing Pty Ltd obo Universal Pictures Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd
