Making good on their “we love Australian music” mantra, the patriots at triple j recently unveiled plans for a digital radio station dedicated solely to unsigned Australian music. Dubbed triple j Unearthed and slated for broadcast on digital radio platforms in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, the station marks a new avenue of exposure for emerging MCs, criminally young bedroom producers, long suffering singer-songwriters and rock bands who have Anvil’d themselves into obscurity. Earlier today Pedestrian had a quick chat with Breakfast host Tom Ballard to discuss what we can expect from the new sister station, his favourite Unearthed success stories and what the reaction has been like among the Australian music community.
So, Tom, how long has this been in the pipeline for? In terms of work actually going into the station and launching and getting it set up, it’s been going on for about a year. During Oz Music Month last year we set up the triple j Unearthed digital radio station for just one month which was a pop up thing but now we get to do it full time which is awesome.
How was the reaction to that original pop up radio station? It was great, people loved it. Alex and I got to record our own little selection. We jumped on there and recorded a special playlist showing our favorite things from triple j Unearthed and a whole lot of presenters did that and there was a lot of really positive feedback. I think our audience really love being surprised and discovering new stuff, stuff they’ve never heard of before. They’re very passionate about Aussie music and we’re very happy to support that. I think the amount of people that are on Unearthed already, there’s around 250,000 users, shows that there really is an audience for a locals only radio station and as triple j and digital radio becomes more popular and the credibility of Unearthed rises, we’ve had more success stories come out of that website. I think people are really ready for a full radio station 24/7.
How has the reaction been especially from musicians since the announcement? They’re generally excited. Not just in a ‘we’re friends with triple j so we’re going to say it’s huge and exiting,’ I think they’re excited to get another opportunity to get airplay particularly among engaged music lovers. I think that triple j listeners are discerning and they go that extra step to visit triple j Unearthed and find out new things and write reviews, just because they love hearing new music. I think they’re the kind of people who blog about new music, which spreads word about new music. They’re the kind of people you can turn to for advice on who to listen to and who the next big thing is. So the idea of providing those people with a 24 hour radio station that anyone can access as well, that just mean more people are going to be discussing music and music journalism and conversation around the Australian music scene is going to be broadened. All the guys who have come through on Unearthed – Washington, The Jezabels people like that, we got to talk to them ahead of the announcement and they’re kind of living proof of what Unearthed means and what it can do for your career. No one likes the competition, sure, but I think they’re excited too.
What’s your personal favorite Unearthed success story? Well, Missy Higgins was like the first concert I ever went to and The Sound of White was a really important record for me. You know I really loved that record when I was a teenager so that meant a lot to me and she was one of our winners. Just her story, the idea that she sent this demo in and someone said ‘hey this demo’s good’, she gets radio play and she wins this massive competition and then produces one of, what I assume is one of the highest selling Aussie records ever. It was a really awesome story. She seems like a really lovely person and I just really liked her stuff. That was a big one for me. More recently, I really loved the Jezabels work I think they’re a really great talent and honestly our Unearthed High winners Snakadaktal. I think they make genuinely impressive melancholic pop. They’re not tipping their hat to a genre that’s gone before, they’re not getting on a bandwagon. I think they make music they really love and it sounds unique and that’s awesome.
How will Unearthed interact with triple j? You know, they’ll crossover often. I think that a couple of years ago you would play an Unearthed track and you could probably tell that the track had been recorded in someone’s bedroom and the attitude was ‘it was just an act that you haven’t heard of much from yet, but give them a crack and see what you think’. But these days it’s hard to tell the difference between the tracks from major record companies and those that people put together themselves and uploaded onto the internet. So yeah, we play a high proportion of Unearthed acts in our playlists on Breakfast. We’re always reviewing tracks as well. Alex and myself have reviewing accounts on triple j Unearthed that we point to all the time and we get behind those massive competitions like Unearthed High. Then there’s real world stuff like a Splendour In The Grass berth for a band like Art vs. Science. That’s another great story too. They won that competition and needed to write more songs in order to fill out their set. And now they’re one of the biggest bands in the country. It’s insane really and it shows just how quickly things can turn around once you get a bit of airplay and people start loving your stuff.
How will it work logistically? Will there be presenters? Will there be particular genre programming or will it be more free form? It’s a bit more free form, there wont be presenters as such, there’s no breakfast, no drive, no specific genre time of the day, it’s really going to be driven by the music and the artists that make the music. So you’ll hear a bunch of artists from triple j Unearthed popping up and saying ‘Hey I’m Jo Blogs, this is my song, I’m from this part of Australia’ and you’ll get to know these artists a little bit better but that will all be pre-recorded and put to air in a range of packages. We’ll also be getting friends of triple j, artists who have come up through Unearthed, for example Megan Washington may come in and say, “Hey, I’m Megan Washington you know my career was started on Unearthed and here are a few tracks that I love on this website’. Superusers, meaning people who review so much stuff on triple j they get that wonderful title of superuser, they’ll pick some of their favourites, and occasionally presenters from triple j itself will pop by and talk about some of the tracks they have unearthed and loved.
What do you hope this will achieve and what are you most excited about? I think the station will just uncover the next generation of artists. It’s something that we would do if we didn’t have triple j Unearthed, I think. But the fact that we can dedicate a 24/7 radio station to local music means we can do it so much faster and we can really diversify the amount of Australian music that’s getting out there. Triple j is really committed to Australian music and representing that on air and we do a really good job of that. By dedicating this entire radio station to the stuff that you can hear on Unearthed it’s just a whole other world that we can open up to people. No other digital radio station plays nothing but Australian music in Australia, so we think that there’s definitely a gap in the market. People want to hear new Australian music and we’re very happy to bring it out. So I guess I’m really excited to see the level of sophistication that we can bring to that world of unsigned independent Aussie music and all the surprises that brings. We’ve been surprised by all the Washingtons, the Jezabels, Elizabeth Rose, all thos kind of people we’regoing to be surprised by another lot of new kids on the block and I look forward to hearing their stuff.
Just finally, for all those unsigned, new bands out there, how do they get their stuff on Unearthed? It’s super simple. It’s the very basic step of uploading MP3s to the site. It’s all free obviously and it’s a very easy process. here’s a very hardworking team at triple j Unearthed.com and now triple j Unearthed the radio station who are always there and want to hear from you and want to help out how ever they can. It helps them out when we’ve got bands uploading stuff all the time as well. Triple j Unearthed is the place to go and make sure everything up there is updated and reflects who you are as a band and any other relevant info like links to websites and social media accounts, that kind of stuff. Just whack you music up there and tell your friends about it so they can rate it and review it. It’s very easy and it’s free.
