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Between a rock and a hard place The Daily Telegraph, 29 September 2001. It took one Latin heart throb to unleash a chain of events that has seen the control of Australia's most coveted music awards wrestled from those who have nurtured it to maturity. DINO SCATENA reports on the behind-the-scenes soap opera that has left the rock industry furious As pop divas and industry bigwigs sit back to enjoy this year's 15th ARIA awards ceremony, few of them will have any idea of the backstage fights that almost crippled this year's night of nights for the music world. There's no doubting how big a deal the ARIA Awards have become over the last 15 years, not only as an industry event but as a high-rating television special. ``It's bigger than all of us,'' says Philip Mortlock, cochairman of the ARIA Awards organisational committee. ``It can change networks, you can have a different ARIA board running it, you can have a different executive producer doing the television show, but somehow the ARIA Awards has become bigger than we ever imagined it would. It rolls on of its own accord.'' This year's ARIAs -- to be staged at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney on Wednesday night and to be broadcast live (or at least on taped delay) on Channel Nine, as opposed to its home for the past six years, Channel Ten -- has suffered all of those pressures, and more. The smoke and mirrors machinations behind how and why this flick of the dial occurred might not be the stuff of Shakespearean tragedy, but they make for good soap opera. Take an international Latin superstar (Ricky Martin), a local music industry heavyweight (Denis Handlin, chairman of both Sony Music Australia and ARIA), curious political bedfellows (managing directors of major Australian record companies with shared vested interests), a philosophical quandary (should the premier Australian music awards program feature all Australian talent?), an ``old guard dog'' -- mix together and things were bound to go asunder. ``It might have been a scene from Julius Caesar, I suspect,'' laughs Peter Rix, the deposed former executive producer of the ARIA Awards. ``Is that a dagger in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?'' Most give Rix credit for creating the ARIA Awards 15 years ago. Back in 1986, no one would have dreamed of telecasting it. It was simply a dinner for 600 music industry types at the Wentworth Hotel, hosted by Elton John, and the awards were swept by John Farnham. Up until last year, Rix -- an Australian music business veteran and long-time manager of, among others, Marcia Hines -- chaired the ARIA Board Of Governors. The sole business of the board was to pull together the awards night. When the Awards went to TV in 1991, Rix became executive producer. So it remained for the following nine years. But then, unexpectedly, in March this year, Rix received a fax from Emmanuel Candi, the executive director of ARIA, informing him that his services were no longer required. ``The appointment of Channel Nine removed my role as the executive producer of the television show,'' explains Rix. ``Channel Nine now produces the show, not Peter Rix. And the ARIA board in its wisdom decided to fold up the Board Of Governors. That meant Peter Rix didn't have a role as the chairman. ``That enabled the board to move on with the ARIA Awards without my participation. It meant the old guard dog was gone. For 14 years, if you wanted your act on the ARIA Awards, you had to get past the guard dog -- I'm the bloke who doesn't work for a major record company. ``They couldn't use those wonderful methods that record companies use to get people to favour their products.'' Rix's tenure came unstuck following the debacle surrounding Ricky Martin's nonappearance at last year's awards. Martin had been scheduled to appear on the program as a presenter. Then the idea was aired that he should perform a song. Although other international artists had performed at the awards (in 1996, Harry Connick Jr and Chris Isaak were inexplicably invited to host), recent policy meant only local acts would fill the limited live-in-front-of-a-national-audience performance spots. The matter of whether an exception should be made for Martin � a Sony artist -- was put to a vote by the board and defeated, twice. So Martin decided not to attend the party at all. Months later, Martin came to Australia as special guest of the Logie Awards on Nine. The arguments over Martin soured the usual harmonious ARIA night and in a few months ARIA members started talking with Nine about taking over the ARIA Awards. Nine offered an appealing proposal: they would handle all production duties in-house and give ARIA a cash injection, believed to be worth $100,000, for their trouble. Rix says he's not bitter about what's happened. ``I have regret in the manner in which it was done and I will always have regrets, but it is the music business. And if you look back in the music business, you're dead. ``But the new board [the Board Of Governors has been replaced by the ARIA Awards Committee] has a responsibility. I mean that. And they will be judged. I'm not going to judge them on my own. The music industry, which is not just made up of record companies, will judge. Now that's a very different part of the game to the television business. ``I believe and I hope the show will be a tremendous ratings success because Channel Nine are good at making television shows. I suspect they're certainly better at making television shows than I am. Whether they're better at making a music event is a different question,'' he says. The ARIAs' rating success, in the 13-to-39 demographic at least, is virtually assured. In recent years it has drawn 60 per cent of younger viewers. Last year it came in seventh overall in the Sydney ratings for its week. At Nine, Hillary Innes -- Rix's successor as executive producer of the ARIA Awards -- believes that base audience can be expanded. ``I think you need to broaden it out for an audience that might not know or buy the music that's on the show,'' says Innes, who is also executive producer of Nine's Logies broadcast. So an international act, this year British singer Dido, has been introduced. Australian artists include Natalie Imbruglia, Tina Arena, Kasey Chambers and Powderfinger. Another factor is the choice of this year's host, stage and cabaret star David Campbell. ``I know there's been a bit of chat about that [choice],'' says Innes. ``I think with David we've got a mixture of someone who comes from the industry but also is an actor, a performer who has a lot of innate charm. I think he works.'' But the chatter became almost deafening when, only days after being announced as host, David Campbell signed with Sony Music. Meanwhile, on the new Awards committee, co-chairman Philip Mortlock is remorseful about how his friend Rix was dismissed. Mortlock, who runs independent record label Origin, was Rix's deputy for the awards' first 14 years. ``Frankly, I don't think the situation is resolved,'' says Mortlock. ``The recognition for what he's done for the ARIAs is yet to be sorted. ``But the issue at hand is that the awards roll on regardless of the politics and the machinations behind the scenes.'' * The ARIA's will be screened on Channel Nine, Wednesday, 8.30pm.
