Nominees for the Australian Independent Record Label Association’s (AIR) Independent Music Awards were announced today, with the event set to be held at Adelaide Town Hall on Thursday, July 31.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Adelaide’s designation as a UNESCO City of Music, but despite the city’s reputation, nominations for South Australian artists are scarce as the industry continues to face a tough landscape.

Beloved Mt Gambier export Kasey Chambers has been nominated for Best Independent Country Album for her 2024 release Backbone.

Electronic duo Electric Fields, hailing from the APY lands of north-west South Australia, are nominated for their collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for Best Independent Classical Album.

RnB Punjabi-Australian artist Parvyn and her album Maujuda, which featured in CityMag’s best new music column, is also nominated. In the independent producer category, Bonnie Knight is nominated for her work on Coldwave’s The Ants/Italia ’06.

Last year’s awards saw nominations for Adelaide artists like Big Wett, Enola and Teenage Joans.

Since 2023, pressures on the local music scene have intensified with venue closures, a lack of local representation on music festival lineups, and festival cancellations, which have affected emerging artists’ performance experience and ability to grow within the local scene.

This year’s awards will include a new category: Independent Mix, Studio or Mastering Engineer of the Year.

Nominees for the latest addition include Nick Herrera, Robert Muinos, and Steven Schram, who is best known for working with Crowded House and Paul Kelly.

The awards coincide with AIR’s Indie-Con Australia Conference, and the American Association of Independent Music’s Indie Week Australian Edition, which will bring its conference outside the US for the first time to celebrate 20 years.

Indie-Con and Indie Week will run from July 30 to August 1 at the Mercury Cinema on Morphett St, followed by the annual Scouted showcase, which supports unsigned South Australian-based artists and bands that write original music.

The event is supported by the South Australian Government. Arts Minister Andrea Michaels says it’s a “wonderful opportunity to recognise the work the independent music industry does in providing talented and emerging artists and music businesses with a platform to share their art with a wider audience”.

Details on the program and its featured speakers will be announced in June, with early bird tickets on sale now.

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2025 AIR Award nominees

Best Independent Blues and Roots Album or EP

Emma Donovan – Til My Song Is Done
Little Quirks – Little Quirks
Mia Dyson – Tender Heart
Queenie – New Moult
Steph Strings – Cradle Mountain

Best Independent Hip Hop Album or EP

3% – Kill The Dead
Dobby – Warrangu; River Story
Lithe – What Would You Do?
Miss Kaninna – Kaninna
Ziggy Ramo – Human?

Best Independent Country Album or EP

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Henry Wagons – The Four Seasons
Kasey Chambers – Backbone
Lane Pittman – Lane Pittman
Michael Waugh – Beauty & Truth
The Whitlams Black Stump – Kookaburra

Best Independent Jazz Album or EP

Claire Cross – Sleep Cycle
Lucy Clifford – Between Spaces Of Knowing
Molly Lewis – On The Lips
Parvyn – Maujuda
Sam Anning – Earthen

Best Independent Classical Album or EP

Australian Chamber Orchestra – Memoir Of A Snail
Electric Fields X Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Live In Concert
Katie Noonan & Karin Schaupp – Songs Of The Southern Skies Vol 2
Nat Bartsch – Forever Changed
Simon Mavin – Some Days EP

Best Independent Children’s Album or EP

Bunny Racket – Power
Emma Memma – Twirly Tunes
Teeny Tiny Stevies – The Green Album
The Quokkas – Songs For Silly Billies
The Wiggles – The Wiggles Sound System: Rave Of Innocence

Best Independent Dance, Electronica or Club Single

Alice Ivy – Do I Need To Know What Love Is? Feat. Josh Teskey
Confidence Man – I Can’t Lose You
Haiku Hands – Kicks
Moktar – Haraka ’حركة’
Odd Mob – Vertigo Feat. Ed Graves

Best Independent Punk Album or EP

Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me! – Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me!
Dune Rats – If It Sucks, Turn It Up
Gut Health – Stiletto
Radio Free Alice – Polyester
Regurgitator – Invader

Best Independent Heavy Album or EP

Northlane – Mirror’s Edge
Ocean Grove – Oddworld
Redhook – Mutation
The Amity Affliction – Let The Ocean Take Me (Redux)
The Southern River Band – D.I.Y

Best Independent Dance Or Electronica Album or EP

1tbsp – Megacity1000
Alice Ivy – Do What Makes You Happy
Confidence Man – 3am (La La La)
Ninajirachi – Girl Edm
Pnau – Hyperbolic

Best Independent Rock Album or EP

Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
King Stingray – For The Dreams
Party Dozen – Crime In Australia
Royel Otis – Pratts & Pain
The Rions – Happiness In A Place It Shouldn’t Be

Best Independent Soul/Rnb Album or EP

Beckah Amani – This Is How I Remember It.
Don West – Don West
Ella Thompson – Ripple On The Wing
Milan Ring – Mangos
Radical Son – Bilambiyal

Best Independent Pop Album or EP

Annie Hamilton – Stop And Smell The Lightning
Asha Jefferies – Ego Ride
Emma Russack – About The Girl
Good Morning – Good Morning Seven
Sheppard – Zora

Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year – Presented By PPCA

3%
Gut Health
Miss Kaninna
Queenie
The Dreggs

Independent Song of the Year

Alice Ivy – Do I Need To Know What Love Is? Feat. Josh Teskey
Amyl And The Sniffers – U Should Not Be Doing That
Jem Cassar-Daley – Big Container
Ocean Alley – Tangerine
Sycco – Meant To Be

Independent Album of the Year

Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
Emily Wurramara – Nara
King Stingray – For The Dreams
Royel Otis – Pratts & Pain
The Dreggs – Caught In A Reverie

Best Independent Label

Abc Music
Dinosaur City
Etcetc.
I Oh You
Impressed Recordings

Independent Marketing Team of the Year

Abc Music, The Annex – Emily Wurramara, Nara
Future Classic, The Annex – Sycco, Zorb
Gyrostream – Lithe, Fall Back
I Oh You, Mushroom Music – Confidence Man, 3am (La La La)
Ourness, The Annex – Royel Otis, Pratts & Pain

Independent Publicity Team of the Year

I Oh You, Mushroom Music – Confidence Man, 3am (La La La)
Liz Ansley – Emily Wurramara, Nara
Super Duper – Radio Free Alice, Polyester
Thinking Loud – Royel Otis, Pratts & Pain
Twnty Three Pr – The Rions, Happiness In A Place It Shouldn’t Be

Independent Music Video of the Year

Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore – Emily Wurramara, Lordy Lordy Ft. Tasman Keith
Nick Rae, Jordan Ruyi Blanch – 3%, Won’t Stop Feat. Jessica Mauboy
Pond – Pond, (I’m) Stung!
Rosemary Whatmuff – Kasey Chambers, Backbone (The Desert Child)
Stephanie Jane Day – Emma Russack, Everything Is Big

Independent Producer of the Year

Alice Ivy – Do What Makes You Happy
Bonnie Knight – Coldwave, The Ants/Italia ’06
Dave Hammer – Lime Cordiale, Enough Of The Sweet Talk
Nick Didia – Ocean Alley, Tangerine
Nina Wilson – Ninajirachi, Girl Edm

Independent Mix, Studio or Mastering Engineer of the Year

Nick Herrera – Miss Kaninna, Kaninna
Robert Muinos – Rowena Wise, Senseless Acts Of Beauty
Rohan Sforcina, Lachlan Carrick – Emma Donovan, Til My Song Is Done
Steven Schram – Crowded House, Gravity Stairs
Tom Iansek – Tom Snowdon, Lonely Tree