AIR Charts

The AIR Charts are the official sales charts for Australian independent music released by Australian owned, independent record labels. Presented by AIR, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association, the charts are calculated according to official sales figures provided by the ARIA Charts, which includes legal MP3 download sales.

The AIR charts are found online at http://ausindies.com.au. They are officially distributed alongside the ARIA Charts through The Music Network, a weekly subscription based Australian music industry trade magazine.

Currently sponsored by Jägermeister, The AIR Charts have been set up with the intention of helping Australian indie artists compete with commercial artists represented by Australia's four major multinational record labels, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and EMI.

For some of our independent artists, making a dent on the ARIA charts, against the might of a major label’s marketing and publicity departments as well as their bottomless recording budgets is an impossible task... although the pool of artists eligible for the AIR charts is smaller than the ARIA charts it’s certainly no mean feat to be amongst the highest selling independent artists in Australia.

The AIR Charts survey includes:

The distinction between the 100% Indie and Indie Label categories is:

An example of 100% Indie would be John Butler Trio who are released and distributed through independent record label Jarrah Records.

An example of Indie Label would be Silverchair and Missy Higgins who are released through independent record label Eleven: A Music Company but distributed via the distribution arm of major labels Universal Music and Warner Music Group.

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