Australian hardcore band Speed has won the inaugural $80,000 New South Wales Music prize, a new award attempting to support musicians in the face of streaming algorithms that promote international names over local artists.
The NSW Music prize was announced by the state government last year as part of its 10-year plan to support local music, with the goal of helping musicians “in the face of increasing competition from overseas artists via streaming platforms”.
Speed is a Sydney band consisting of singer Jem Siow, guitarists Joshua Clayton and Dennis Vichidvongsa, bassist Aaron Siow, and drummer Kane Vardon. The group won the main category, “for a NSW artist or act whose release has had the most significant impact”, for their debut album Only One Mode.
Speed have used music to talk about male suicide and anti-Asian racism and make a point of promoting inclusivity in the hardcore scene, putting on all-ages shows and donating profits to charities. In April, they became the first Australian hardcore act to ever perform at Coachella.
Before accepting the prize at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Monday night, the band said in a joint statement: “Respectfully, our culture has never been a game nor a competition. But we are honoured to receive this recognition and see this as acknowledgment of the values cultivated by the passionate souls around us.”
They paid tribute to the “hardcore kids and punks [who] have been building something for ourselves for nothing more than the love of the scene and the feeling we get from it”, adding that their win “gives us hope that realness can be recognised and wanted out there in the real world.”
“In 2025, we have a whole new generation of amazing kids all over the country making Sydney and Australian hardcore the sickest it’s ever been,” they added. “With that being said, this award belongs to them – the people around us who make it what it is – and we’ll take some time to think about the best way we can pay that forward to keep growing this the right way.”
Speed was up for the top prize against electronic DJ Ninajirachi, dance group Rüfüs Du Sol, rap collective 3%, Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa, Gomeroi singer Kobie Dee, drill group Onefour, duo Party Dozen, punk/hip-hop band Shady Nasty and rapper Vv Pete with collaborator Utility.
Ninajirachi won the $40,000 breakthrough artist of the year category – topping off a big month for the 26-year-old Central Coast DJ, who has also won three Aria awards and the $50,000 Australian music prize in the last fortnight.
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Barkaa, who takes her moniker from the Barkindji word for the Darling River and is based in south-west Sydney, won the $40,000 First Nations music category for her EP Big Tidda.
A recent Creative Australia report found that only 8% of the top 10,000 artists streamed in Australia in 2024 were Australian. Listeners are increasingly defaulting to American music provided by algorithms and the report found only one-third of respondents actively sought Australian acts out. But the report also found 80% of Spotify royalties for Australian artists were coming from overseas.
The NSW Music prize is the first state prize dedicated to music, and its $160,000 total prize pool makes it Australia’s largest cash prize for music.
The NSW minister for music, John Graham, praised all the winners as “talented and hard-working” and that he hoped the prize will “inspire the next generation to aim high”.
“The streaming revolution is pushing more American music to Australian listeners,” he added. “This award is part of our effort support local musicians to cut through and build a fanbase.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theguardian.com ’
