The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) has received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts in their recent grant round, and is excited to partner with First Nations Media Australia on a new initiative to raise the profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists – helping to share their songs and stories.
 
For two decades, the CBAA’s Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap) has been a crucial initiative for Australian musicians and community radio broadcasters, ensuring more local sounds are heard across the country. Amrap will be distributing new music from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians to increase the representation of First Nations music on community radio airwaves. First Nations Media Australia will feature selected music on its national content platform, indigiTube, which showcases music and video content for listeners to stream and download within the app – and for broadcasters to replay on air.
 
“We’re proud of how Amrap has exposed new Australian music over many years and now look forward to working with First Nations Media Australia on this fantastic initiative,” CBAA CEO Jon Bisset says. “Amrap will serve as a vital stepping-stone for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians into the local music industry and be a great resource for early-career musicians.”
 
A series of music compilations will be curated by indigiTUBE with a select panel of First Nations individuals, and distributed Australia-wide. The project will focus on developing more regional and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, ensuring greater awareness of heritage, history and culture, by supporting the First Nations music industry.

“The project is a great opportunity to build on the connections indigiTUBE has made,” says First Nations Media Australia General Manager, Daniel Featherstone, “and to expand the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music across the community media landscape through the AMRAP catalogue.”
 
“We’re really excited about partnering with the CBAA to help connect audiences with deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians,” adds indigiTUBE Project Manager, Jaja Dare, “we can’t wait to hear these awesome contemporary artists featured on the community radio airwaves.”

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.