Youth broadcaster triple j opened up a Pandora’s Box yesterday with the relatively innocuous tweet, “did it hurt? when you aged out of the youth radio station.”

The tweet was a patent sly dig at the audiences who have aged out of the radio station’s target demographic. Y’know, a response to all the old heads that flood the comment sections of every Spacey Jane article with the time-honored “remember when you played REAL MUSIC like REGURGITATOR and MAGIC DIRT” spiel.

Unfortunately for the j’s (but fortunately for my evening timeline entertainment), it incited a maelstrom of conversation surrounding ageism within the Australian music industry.

Ageism, a weird, sticky quagmire, one that has been kept relatively hush-hush. I get it, when we’re already fighting tooth and nail for cultural and gender diversity in Australian music, attempting to combat the age thing feels overwhelming.

Poppy Reid diagnosed it succinctly in this The Industry Observer piece:

“This music industry has seen the symbolic annihilation of women over 40. They have been aged out of the industry in a way that is so subversive that not only are we losing incredible music (and therefore economic contributions), but we’re also sounding warning bells to emerging acts.”

It’s an issue that has been addressed by household names like Tina Arena, and Kylie Minogue. Though the ramifications of ageism that impact the industry at a more grassroots level remain… relatively unspoken. Until yesterday’s Twitter blitzkrieg that is…

Some Twitter users took to implying that triple j-core artists have resorted to lying about their age to survive the industry.

Whilst others just straight-up took to pointing out triple j Music Director Richard Kingsmill’s age.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine