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,"<ref name=":8">Template:Cite web</ref> 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, Grinspoon and the Kid Laroi. 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.

Formats

Talent competition

Missy Higgins says her 2001 Unearthed success led to her initial record deal and subsequent success.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 1995, Triple J launched its regional Unearthed competition,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite press release</ref> whereby emerging musicians from across Australia could send in their demos to be professionally recorded and played on the station.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In its inaugural year, 1,000 artists entered; Lismore rock band Grinspoon won the competition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In its following years, the Unearthed demo program helped discover several acclaimed artists, including Killing Heidi (1996) and Missy Higgins (2001).<ref name=":1" /> By 2006, Triple J had travelled to over 43 regions in Australia and "unearthed" over 100 artists, most of whom went on to independently release albums and score distribution deals.<ref name=":1" />

Website

In 2006, former Triple J manager Linda Bracken ideated an online platform that would allow unsigned musicians to upload their music and be heard by the station's staff and listeners.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> Motivated to cut out the need for publicists and A&R, she was inspired by the similar New Music Canada initiative by CBC Radio 3.<ref name=":6" />

With funding from the Australia Council for the Arts,<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":6" /> The site's launch, on 9 August 2006, re-established the Unearthed brand.<ref name=":1" /> Thousands of tracks were uploaded within the first week of the site being online.<ref name=":6" /> By 2010, about 100 songs were being uploaded onto the Unearthed website every day.<ref name=":6" /> As of 2023, it hosts over 170,000 tracks from over 85,000 independent musicians.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, the website received its first major redesign since its initial launch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 18 December 2024, the New South Wales Police Force alleged that two men used the Unearthed website– particularly its profile customisation features, like writing a user bio– to recruit a Goulburn Correctional Centre inmate to carry out a stabbing on gang leader Bassam Hamzy in February that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The ABC, which owns Triple J, did not comment on the matter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Digital radio station

Seeing the success of the website, Unearthed executive producer Stephanie Carrick and ABC music director Chris Scaddan ideated 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.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite web</ref>

Initiatives

Unearthed High

Gretta Ray won Unearthed High in 2016 and has since released two ARIA-charting albums.<ref name=":0" />

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, The Kid Laroi, Genesis Owusu, Japanese Wallpaper and Gretta Ray.<ref name=":32">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative was founded in 2016, rewarding an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander musician with mentoring and airplay on Triple J.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name=":32" />

List of Unearthed High winners, selected finalists and Indigenous Initiative winners

Year	Winner	Notable finalists	Indigenous Initiative winner	Template:Abbr
2008	Tom UglyTemplate:Efn			<ref name="Lynch 2021-07-30">Template:Cite web</ref>
2009	Hunting GroundsTemplate:Efn			<ref name="Lynch 2021-07-30" />
2010	StonefieldTemplate:Efn			<ref name="Topsfield 2020-10-30">Template:Cite web</ref>
2011	Snakadaktal			<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2012	Asta	Montaigne		<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2013	Lunatics on Pogosticks	Vancouver Sleep Clinic		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2014	Japanese Wallpaper	Hockey Dad		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2015	Mosquito Coast	Genesis Owusu		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2016	Gretta Ray	Lastlings, Ninajirachi	Tia Gostelow	<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2017	Arno Faraji	Ninajirachi	Becca Hatch	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018	Kian	The Kid Laroi	River & Isles	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2019	George Alice		Aodhan	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2020	Teenage Joans	Aodhan	Rudeboy E	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2021	The Rions		Kayps	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2022	Jacoténe		Proud Noongar Boys	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2023	Lee		Inkabee	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2024	Mariae Cassandra		Riah	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2025	Drizzz		Kyla Belle	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Indigenous opportunities

Becca Hatch won the Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative in 2017.

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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="wanna">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Groovin' the Moo,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Falls Festival,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Big Day Out, Laneway Festival and A More Perfect Union.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Artist collaboration competitions

Unearthed occasionally run competitions where winning artists can work with renowned producers or songwriters.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The same year, Unearthed artists were given the opportunity to work with award-winning songwriter Sarah Aarons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Impact

Writing for online magazine Tone Deaf in 2022, Holley Gawne wrote Triple J Unearthed has been "so successful ... in boosting the profiles of some of the industry’s biggest and brightest."<ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref> Triple J music director Dave Ruby Howe said the Unearthed online platform was a revolutionary idea, especially as it pre-dated other music platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp.<ref name=":8" />

Notable alumni

Template:Multiple image 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.<ref name=":8" />

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."<ref name=":8" /> Flume, one of the "world's most prominent producers" according to Rolling Stone,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> debuted with a single on Unearthed titled "Possum" in 2011.<ref name=":9" /> Brisbane indie pop band Ball Park Music began uploading to the site in 2008,<ref name=":9" /> while Gang of Youths uploaded a demo as well as their debut single "Evangelists" in 2013.<ref name=":13" />

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.<ref name=":8" />

On February 15, 2019 Tones and I uploaded her debut single "Johnny Run Away" to Triple J Unearthed. The track was picked up by the team, and Tones and I would go on to win an Unearthed competition to perform at Splendour in the Grass.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her hit 2019 single "Dance Monkey" has since become the most streamed Australian song, and the most streamed song by a female musician on Spotify, recording over three billion streams.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

100 Best Unearthed Discoveries

In November 2016, to celebrate 10 years of the Triple J Unearthed website, the broadcaster counted down the 100 Best Unearthed Discoveries, featuring artists who have found the most success after uploading their music to the platform.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the week following the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs in July 2025, the Unearthed station revisited this list.Template:Table alignment<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Top 10 artists from the 100 Best Unearthed Discoveries list

Template:Abbr	2016 list	2025 list
1	Flume	Missy Higgins
2	Courtney Barnett	Rüfüs Du Sol
3	The Rubens	Gang of Youths
4	Boy & Bear	Spacey Jane
5	Meg Mac	Flume
6	Ball Park Music	Ball Park Music
7	The Jezabels	Ocean Alley
8	Sticky Fingers	Vance Joy
9	Big Scary	Sticky Fingers
10	Japanese Wallpaper	Grinspoon