ARIAs’ New Best Music Festival Award Will be a ‘Key Barometer for Health of Australian Live Music’

For as long as I can remember, the ARIAs have been where we celebrate the songs, albums and artists that shape Australian culture. The big night when the spotlight swings onto the people playing stages across our country and in many cases, the world. But Australian music doesn’t just happen under TV lights. It happens in paddocks, parklands and city streets, in the dust, the rain and the heat. So many core memories of our favourite Aussie music happen at festivals and the people that put them on pour their hearts and souls into it.

I think that is why this year’s ARIA Awards feel like such a turning point. For the first time, festivals are being recognised for the impact they have on Aussie music with their own category: the inaugural ARIA Best Music Festival Award.

Artists can go from a midday slot on a shady side stage to owning an entire field a year or two later. Careers kick off where a couple of hundred curious punters turn into thousands of fans. Festivals are often where someone gets their first shot in front of a real crowd, not just an algorithm. Those moments don’t happen without the people who put it all on the line to build festivals from the ground up.

They connect artists and audiences in real time, bring together crews, vendors, local businesses and regions, and inject millions into local economies. Over 70% of us still consider festivals a rite of passage for young Australians. That shared experience, sunburn, set clashes, losing your mates, then finding them again during the headliner, becomes part of who we are.

The timing of this recognition also matters because it has been a particularly difficult five years for the festival industry. Rising costs, insurance challenges, shifting regulations, extreme weather, COVID impact and changes in how fans plan and spend have all taken a toll. Everyone in the industry knows how much harder it has become to make festivals work in a world now dominated by blockbuster tours and shifting fan behaviour. Even so, organisers keep pushing forward, rethinking formats, creating safer and more inclusive spaces and backing Australian artists despite the tougher maths.

So when ARIA, in partnership with the Australian Festival Association, introduces a category that honours festivals, and particularly those that champion Australian artists, it matters. It says festivals are essential to the future of Australian music, not a nice-to-have, and yes, they will evolve and change, but they’re here to stay as a part of our culture.

Crucially, the Best Music Festival Award is not just about who can book the biggest headliner or shift the most tickets. Working with the AFA, the criteria focus on festivals that create opportunities for Australian artists, put local talent at the centre of the experience, take accessibility and safety seriously and build something meaningful for their communities.

You can see that reflected in this year’s nominees: Ability Fest, Beyond the Valley, Bluesfest, Laneway and Yours and Owls. These are events with different flavours and histories, but they share a belief that festivals can be more than entertainment, that they can be meaningful platforms for discovery and building your fan base.

It’s important to Tixel to support awards like this as we sit at a crossroads between fans, festivals, ticketing companies, artists and promoters. We know the current climate is incredibly tough for festival organisers, costs are rising, and margins are tight, so our goal is to help strengthen the ecosystem in ways that work for everyone. Initiatives like this are one part of that: shining a light on the creativity and resilience that keep the festival ecosystem moving forward. We want more people at more shows, more of the time, because that’s how artists build careers, how scenes grow and how festivals endure.

If we get this right, the Best Music Festival Award will not just be about who had the biggest moment in a given year. It will be a key barometer for the health and inclusivity of Australian live music as a whole. So whoever wins next week, we’re celebrating the inaugural nominees, those that submitted, and the 2026 Class-to-come of the festivals doing great things for Aussie artists.