The Australian Music Prize Ltd Code of Conduct
Not For Profit
The Australian Music Prize has been established to raise money from sponsors and entry fees and spend all of such money on:
- A cash prize to encourage excellence in music production by Australian musical artists
- Publicity, promotion and advertising of Australian musical artists who enter the prize, their musical works and the prize itself
- A “winners event” at which the ‘Shortlist 8’ titles are promoted and a winner announced
- required operating / administrative costs including fees for necessary staff
The Australian Music Prize will have its annual accounts prepared by a registered Chartered Accountant.
The Company
The company has been established to produce an annual Prize for Australian music excellence therefore encouraging and promoting Australian musical artists.
Company Directors: A. Valder, R. C. Burcham and S. B. Murphy.
The company’s ABN and ACN are:
ABN: 53 116 034 096
ACN: 116 034 096
The Prize
Each calendar year the Prize will be known as “The Amp”. In its inaugural year, 2005, the Prize will be known as “The Amp 2005”. It is envisioned that in any year, a naming rights sponsor could be contracted and if so, the name will be changed to be something like “The SPONSOR NAME Amp 2XXX”. The presentation of the Prize for each calendar year will be made within the first quarter of the following year.
The Prize will be cash. In its inaugural, second and third years the cash Prize is $25 000. It is believed that although there are no cash prizes for the other 7 artists who comprise the ‘Shortlist 8’, the interest generated by their status will be a significant boost for their musical careers.
Prize Director
The Directors of the Board of The Australian Music Prize will annually (by May 31st each year) appoint one Prize Director who is responsible for:
- day to day management of all facets of the business including creating and managing an annual budget
- annually appointing Patrons of The Australian Music Prize and therefore to be members of the Patron Steering Committee
- scheduling and Chairing meetings, when required, of the Patron Steering Committee
- officially inviting people, nominated by the Patron Steering Committee to be Judges and liaising with them during the judging process
- creating the Judging Process and, once approved by the Patron Steering Committee, implementing and overseeing it with the sole aim of producing a fair and accurate result
The Prize Director can charge The Australian Music Prize a fee for services rendered and be reimbursed for directly related expenses.
The Prize Director must obtain the general approval of the Patron Steering Committee on these matters:
- Annual budget with minimal funds requirement to proceed and use of such funds
- Judging Process
- Execution of a ‘naming rights’ sponsorship deal
Patrons/Patron Steering Committee
Patrons of The Australian Music Prize may only be appointed by the Prize Director. Each Patron must be a current, working executive within the Australian music industry. The Prize Director may not appoint as a Patron any person who (directly or via an entity they work for) is paid by The Australian Music Prize Ltd for the supply of goods & services and/or is a non-music industry sponsor of The Australian Music Prize.
Patrons must agree to give as much of their time and expertise as they can to the Prize Director in order that the business can be conducted as well as possible.
Patrons must allow the use of their name by The Australian Music Prize in the promotion of Prize.
Patrons will be formally appointed by or on August 1st each year and each appointment will last for 8 months (until March 31st the following year) at which point it is automatically terminated. The Prize Director can re-appoint Patrons in any following year(s).
A Patron may resign from such role at any time giving the Executive Director 7 days’ notice in writing and allowing 30 days for the removal of references in official communications.
A Patron can only be involuntarily removed as such prior to the expiration of the 8 months by a majority vote of the Patron Steering Committee.
Each appointed Patron automatically is a member of the Patron Steering Committee. The Patron Steering Committee is comprised only of Patrons. Each Patron has one equal vote on the Patron Steering Committee.
Judges/Judging Panel
The only influence the organisers of The Australian Music Prize and its Patrons have over which artists may be announced in the Short List and then which one artist will win, is through the appointment of Judges to the Judging Panel. Once a Judge is appointed they are not required to steer their judging in any particular direction – the entries being judged could be debut albums from new artists, or a 2nd or 3rd etc album from an established artist. The musical direction could be anything from classical to hip hop, rock to dance. Each Judge is to base their judgements only on overall music excellence.
To become a Judge:
- he/she must be active within the Australian music industry and considered in general to be an expert in Australian musical artists and the work they produce
- he/she must not be employed by and/or in control of one of these music industry business types: Record Companies, Publishing Companies, Management Companies, Booking Agencies
- he/she must not be a Patron, the Prize Director or any person working for The Australian Music Prize nor any person who (directly or via an entity they work for) is paid by The Australian Music Prize for the supply of goods & services and/or is a non-music industry sponsor of The Australian Music Prize
- he/she must be proposed by the Prize Director or a member of the Patron Steering Committee based on their belief the proposed will be a fair and expert judge
- he/she must agree in writing to not have a personal and/or business vested interest in any Entries in the Prize for the current year they are judging
he/she must be approved by a majority vote of the Patron Steering Committee
Each appointed Judge becomes a member of the Judging Panel and agrees to abide by the Judging Process.
Each appointed Judge must agree in writing to allow the use of their name by The Australian Music Prize in promotion of The Australian Music Prize.
The appointment of each Judge will be for the period October 1st to March 31st each year after which their appointment is automatically terminated.
A Judge may serve multiple terms but each time the same appointment rules apply.
Each Judge must agree in writing to not publicly disclose any information regarding the titles they are asked to judge by The Australian Music Prize nor any judgement deliberation detail created between them and other judges during the judging process.
Judging Process
The Judging Process each year (by September 30th) must be tabled by the Prize Director to the Patron Steering Committee and approved by the majority of the Patron Steering Committee. The Judging Process may vary from year to year but these basic criteria must be adhered to:
- no Judge may Judge a title they have any sort of business or personal interest in
- all titles which make the ‘Short List’ must be judged by all members of the Judging Panel – even if one or more of the Panel have already Judged a title during the Judging Process
- each entry must be judged by a minimum of three judges before being excluded from making the Short List
- information regarding which titles are judged by which judges will be kept confidential by the Prize Director
- the Prize Director, the Patrons and the Judges must take all necessary measures to ensure that the Judging Process is conducted as fairly as possible so as to ensure the best result
- no Judge will be advised by a Patron or the Prize Director in regard as to how to judge, except for the basic judging process requirements – once a person has been accepted as a Judge it is up to their own discretion as to how to Judge Entries.
Sponsors/Grants
The funding of the Prize, all marketing & promotional expenses, the Winners Event expenses and all operating / administrative expenses will be sought from:
- Corporate sponsors, non music industry
- Corporate sponsors from within the music industry
- Government and related bodies - Grants/Sponsorship
- Entry Fees
Such sponsorship can come in the form of cash and in-kind goods and services. Sponsors will primarily receive special association benefits for their contributions, particularly in all official communications by The Australian Music Prize – as well as special representation at the Winners Event. Some exclusive promotions may be executed between The Australian Music Prize and its sponsors in order to benefit both the Prize and the particular sponsor(s). No sponsor or its staff will have any influence over any Judge or the Judging Process. The Prize Director, with the assistance of the Patrons, will be responsible for soliciting the required sponsorship each year in order to meet budget targets.
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