Music Victoria has announced that the Music Victoria Awards has been suspended for 2025 after “voter fraud” was uncovered last year.
“With deep consideration and understanding, Music Victoria has made the decision to suspend the Music Victoria Awards for 2025,” reads a statement issued late Wednesday, April 16th from the trade association.
This decision, the message continues, “comes after careful reflection, consultation, valuable feedback and learnings over the last 18 months”.
Music Victoria’s flagship ceremony is sidelined following an extraordinary attack on the voting process last year by “unknown assailant/s”, details of which were revealed several weeks after the show.
Thousands of misregistered votes were falsely attributed to nominees, resulting in a change to the recipients of five of the six publicly voted categories, each of which were ultimately overturned. After missing their chance in 2024, those five winners were expected to be appropriately celebrated in 2025. That won’t be happening at the 2025 Music Victoria Awards.
“The organisation believes this is the right time and opportunity for Music Victoria to reassess and reimagine the Music Victoria Awards, ensuring they are reflective of and aligned with Victoria’s diverse music community while operating in a financially sustainable manner,” the statement continues.
Music Victoria “remains deeply committed to its mission of providing a valuable platform for artists and industry and looks forward to engaging with stakeholders – working together to uncover new ways to celebrate and support Victorian music meaningfully.”
The action is said to be “short-term”, providing the “opportunity to set up the Music Victoria Awards for a robust and sustainable long-term future,” says CEO Fiona Duncan.
“We need to take one step back to allow leaps forward. We look forward to collaborating closely with our community to shape this next chapter to celebrate the depths of talent we have in Victoria. We appreciate your understanding and continued support as we evolve through these changes.”
Though unusual, it’s not the first time a major music awards ceremony has been placed on ice due to unpleasant situations not of their own doing.
The Echo Awards, Germany’s equivalent to the Grammys, was met with a barrage of criticism in 2018 when the duo Farid Bang and Kollegah won for best hip-hop/urban album. The winning record “Jung, Brutal, Gutaussehend 3,” contained lyrics deemed antisemitic. The Echo Awards were subsequently abandoned.
