Mon 2 Jul 2012 to Fri 30 Nov 2012

After the successful Amped Up In Conversation event in March, at which The Jezabels were announced as the winner of The 7th Amp, the team behind The Australian Music Prize have started work upon The 8th Amp. Notably, for the first time, entry to The Amp is free-of-charge (previously the fee has been $55). Also for the first time, The Amp has already started collecting albums for consideration (previously entries didn’t open until September).

“We’re simplifying the process for artists and going digital” says Scott B. Murphy, the Founder and Prize Director of The Australian Music Prize. “Thanks to the support of D-Star via a sponsorship relationship, we now accept Australian artist album releases digitally and – when the panel is ready – our judges can access the music online, as and when it suits them”.

“Shooting Star has always been a great supporter of Australian music. Our exclusive arrangement with AIR and all the major Australian label distributors for the delivery of audio tracks via our DMDS audio system, is testament to our commitment. We are absolutely thrilled to have D-Star’s DMDS audio system as the delivery mechanism for The 8th Amp. We look forward to expanding our role in the future.” – Peter C. Skillman, Director & CEO of The Shooting Star Picture Company.

The Amp urges artists, labels, publishers or anyone who’s heard an Australian artist album release this year, of any musical style or genre, to have it considered by our judges for official entry selection. To do this, if you have access to D-Star’s DMDS then login, upload the album and choose The 8th Amp as the destination (Type: Organizations – then search ‘8th Amp’).

If you do not have access to the DMDS, then simply post 1 CD – with your contact details –
to: The 8th Amp/DMDS
60 Upper Deck, Jones Bay Wharf
Pirrama Road
Pyrmont NSW 2009

To be selected for the Longlist of The 8th Amp, the album must conform with this entry criteria:
Australian:
• You are only valid as an entrant if you are Australian. For the purposes of
The 8th Australian Music Prize, we define Australian as:
• being an Australian citizen / passport holder
OR
• currently residing in Australia and have been since at least January 1st, 2011
• NOTE: If the entrant is a group of artists, 50 per cent or more of the members of such
group must be Australian as per above.
Type of Entrants / Entry:
• Entrants may be individual artists or groups of artists.
• The style or genre of the music comprising the entry is NOT relevant.
• The album entered must contain either a minimum of 33 minutes 20 seconds of
recorded music (with any number of tracks), or it must contain a minimum of 9
separate tracks AND a minimum of 25 minutes of music. The maximum amount of
music is what can fit onto 2 standard audio compact discs.
• There are no limits to the number of tracks on the entry.
• The entry must NOT be a ‘Various Artists’ or compilation release.
Entry Release Conditions:
• Each entry must have been commercially released (made available for purchase by the public of Australia) in Australia.
• Commercially released includes sales through any type of retail outlet(s), sales at
performances, sales via online retailers – so long as a portion of the Australian public was able to purchase the entry.
• Each entry must have been commercially released in Australia for a minimum of
1 calendar month during the period from 30th Nov 2011 to 30th Nov 2012.
• Each entry must NOT have been commercially released in any way or in any part of the world prior to 30th Nov 2011.
• Each entry must have been first commercially released no later than 30th Nov 2012.
• The entry must not have been entered in any prior prize conducted by The Australian Music Prize.

The Amp will contact you if your title is ‘selected’ to go on the Longlist of The 8th Amp.