Triple J Unearthed

Triple J Unearthed is an Australian digital radio station and online music discovery platform. It is a sister station of Triple J, owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Unearthed began in 1995 as a regional talent competition open to unsigned musicians. In 2006, the Unearthed website was launched as a way for local artists to have their music heard by the station's team and listeners. As of 2023, the platform hosts over 170,000 tracks from over 85,000 independent musicians. Its success led to the launch of a dedicated digital radio station in 2011, which only plays Australian music uploaded to the site.

Cited as a "revolutionary idea" that "arguably changed the entire Australian music landscape," the Unearthed brand has been responsible for discovering some of Australia's most celebrated musical acts, including Flume, Missy Higgins, Vance Joy, Gang of Youths and Grinspoon. The network continues to host initiatives to progress independent artists in the industry, including Unearthed High, an annual award given to high school musicians to have their work recorded professionally.

Talent competition (1995–2005)
In July 1995, Triple J launched its regional Unearthed competition, asking independent musicians to send in their demos. The winner's track would be professionally recorded and played on the station. Over the years, several now-notable Australian artists had been discovered through the initiative, including Missy Higgins (2001), Killing Heidi (1996) and Grinspoon, the first winners in 1995. As of 2006, Triple J had travelled to over 43 regions around Australia and "unearthed" over 100 bands, most of which had gone on to independently release albums and score distribution deals.

Website (2006–present)
In 2006, former Triple J manager Linda Bracken ideated an online platform that would allow unsigned musicians to be heard by the station's team, as well as by listeners. She was inspired by the similar New Music Canada initiative by CBC Radio 3. "The future of a band's success in Australia shouldn't rely on someone's ability to hire a publicist and an A&R guy." With funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, Bracken and software engineer Ann Chesterman – who saw the idea as "being at the heart of the ecosystem of Australian music" – built a prototype for the Unearthed website. The site's launch, on 9 August 2006, marked "a new beginning" for the Unearthed brand. Thousands of tracks were uploaded within the first week of the site being online. By 2010, about 100 songs were being uploaded onto the Unearthed website every day. As of 2023, it hosts over 170,000 tracks from over 85,000 independent musicians.

In 2021, the website received its first major redesign since its initial launch.

Digital radio station (2011–present)
Seeing the success of the website, Unearthed executive producer Stephanie Carrick and ABC Music director Chris Scaddan ideated with creating a dedicated digital radio station to accompany the online platform. It was launched on 5 October 2011, on digital radio in the five major Australian capital cities, and via the Unearthed website.

Unearthed High
Every year since 2008, Triple J Unearthed has held a competition aimed at musicians and bands in high school. The winner receives mentoring, recording opportunities and airplay on Triple J. Recent acts to have found success with the initiative include Hockey Dad (2014), The Kid Laroi (2018), Genesis Owusu (2015) Japanese Wallpaper (2014) and Gretta Ray (2016).

Celebrating 15 years of the competition in 2023, Triple J held a one-night, all-ages concert during Vivid Sydney featuring notable past entrants, including Lastlings and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers.

Indigenous opportunities
As an extension of Unearthed High, the Indigenous Initiative commemorates the best First Nations artist. Notable past winners have included Aodhan (2019), Becca Hatch (2017) and Tia Gostelow (2016). The network also holds an annual competition open to Indigenous Australian artists, with the winner selected to play at the National Indigenous Music Awards. Past winners have included Thelma Plum, Baker Boy, Alice Skye and Dallas Woods. Unearthed has also run a number of First Nations specific competitions that has seen artists added to festivals such as First & Forever and Treaty Day Out.

Festival lineup additions
Triple J often holds competitions that see a winning Unearthed artist join a major music festival's lineup. In the past, winners have performed at Splendour in the Grass, Groovin' the Moo, Falls Festival, Big Day Out, Laneway Festival and A More Perfect Union.

Artist collaboration competitions
Unearthed occasionally run competitions where winning artists can work with renowned producers or songwriters. In 2023, Flume released a half-finished track, and Unearthed artists were encouraged to share how they would complete the song to win – the final track, produced by Blacktown rapper Isaac Puerile, received national airplay. The same year, Unearthed artists were given the opportunity to work with award-winning songwriter Sarah Aarons.

In the past, these competitions have also seen entrants remix songs from Lorde and DMA's, as well as creating "DIY supergroups" out of samples from notable artists provided by Triple J.

COVID-19 grants
In June 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Unearthed handed out 16 grants to artists on the platform valued at $7,000 each, to record new music, produce music videos and promote their work.

Impact
Writing for online magazine Tone Deaf in 2022, Holley Gawne wrote Triple J has been "so successful ... in boosting the profiles of some of the industry’s biggest and brightest." Triple J music director Ruby Howe said Unearthed "was a pretty revolutionary idea."

Notable alumni
In its first form as a regional talent competition, Unearthed discovered then-local musicians Missy Higgins and Sophie Koh, and bands Grinspoon, Killing Heidi and Sick Puppies.

The launch of the website led to the rise of hundreds of more artists and according to The Music, "arguably changed the entire Australian music landscape." Flume, one of the "world's most prominent producers" according to Rolling Stone, debuted with a single on Unearthed titled "Possum" in 2011. Brisbane indie pop band Ball Park Music began uploading to the site in 2008, while Gang of Youths uploaded a demo as well as their debut single "Evangelists" in 2013.

When a then-unsigned Vance Joy uploaded "Riptide" to the platform, Howe said his team played the track "about 100 times on Unearthed radio" prior to its enormous success – the track is now certified 16× platinum and ended up polling at number one in the Hottest 100 of 2013.