Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett Win At Aussie Live Music Awards

Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett were among the winners of the inaugural National Live Music Awards (NLMAs), which were staged Nov. 29 simultaneously across eight cities in Australia.

They took out international live achievement by band, and international live achievement by a solo act.

Owen Sweeney / Invision / AP – Tame Impala
Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pa.

Multi-winners were singer-songwriter Ngaiire, who took out the R&B/soul live act, live voice and NSW’s live voice categories.

Brisbane band Violent Soho took hard rock live act and Queensland’s state award for live act of the year. Festival winners included WOMADelaide, Dark Mofo and Groovin’ The Moo.

Best venues in each state were Newtown Social Club (NSW), The Corner Hotel (Victoria), The Triffid (Queensland), The Grace Emily (South Australia), Mojos (Western Australia), The Republic Bar (Tasmania), The Phoenix (Australian Capital Territory) and Epilogue Rooftop (Northern Territory).

Music export body Sounds Australia was recipient of the Industry Achievement award, for its work in showcasing 620 Australian acts at 50 trade fairs in 20 countries, and brokering 1,593 agency, record, publishing and synch deals.

Sounds Australia has had a turbulent year, after it lost its funding from the Australian Government.

An angry six-month campaign by the local live music industry saw the government do a U-turn and approve four more years of financial support.

Associate producer Esti Zilber who accepted the award at the Sydney event at The Basement, thanked the sector for its support, saying, “To all of you who signed petitions and wrote letters and lobbied so incredibly hard to keep us going, it did not go unnoticed.”

Sounds Australia recently led a trade delegation including promoters to South America.