A campaign to subvert the radio station Triple M's Australia Day countdown by voting for Indigenous artists is already underway after the station announced it would be running its own version of the hottest 100.
Last month Triple J announced it was moving its Hottest 100 countdown of respect for Indigenous Australians.
Shortly after Triple M's announcement there heavy criticism online and rapper Briggs was calling on fans to vote the protest song January 26 by A.B. Original and Dan Sultan to number one in the countdown in protest.
"We should ruin #TripleM’s redneck countdown and stick @ABOriginalBAM & @dansultan January 26 right in the middle of their cross burning."
Triple M's Ozzest countdown announced yesterday will focus on Australian songs and will be held on January 26th, a date which is controversial as many consider it to be the start of the European invasion of Australia and inappropriate as a day of national celebration.
“So, the taxpayer-funded FM has decided that there’ll be no soundtrack for Australia Day. Let’s face it, that’s usually full of hipsters or kids making music on a Mac,” the station said in a statement released yesterday.
“At Triple M we’re going to give you what you asked for. The perfect Australia Day soundtrack.”
Mark Grose, the managing director of music label Skinnyfish, which represents Indigenous artists including the late Dr G Yunupingu said the decision was "disgraceful".
"There’s plenty of evidence and discussion about what Australia Day means to Aboriginal people. For a company, radio station or anyone to say 'we don’t care what Aboriginal people think, we’re going to have our own Hot 100 because we think it’s the right thing to do,' it's disgusting."
Mr Grose described Triple M as "redneck radio" and likened it to "people climbing Uluru," which was banned by traditional owners last month.
"What is the perfect Australia Day soundtrack, playing all the past hits?" Mr Grose said.
"Is it playing what was played on Triple J? is it making sure that Indigenous Australians are well represented on that playlist? So who knows what the perfect Australia Day soundtrack is?."
