{"id":233644,"date":"2026-02-16T03:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/16\/air-awards-2026-expand-dance-categories-as-nominations-open\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T03:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:08:04","slug":"air-awards-2026-expand-dance-categories-as-nominations-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/16\/air-awards-2026-expand-dance-categories-as-nominations-open\/","title":{"rendered":"AIR Awards 2026 Expand Dance Categories as Nominations\u00a0Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- no image --><\/p>\n<div><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/jagermeister-sponsors-air-charts-1300311\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1300311\">The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR)<\/a><\/strong> has opened nominations for the 2026 Air Awards, introducing key changes to its dance and electronic categories as the event prepares to mark its 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe ceremony will return to Adelaide Town Hall on July 30, with eligible releases spanning Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2025. Nominations close at 5 p.m. AEDT on March 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor 2026, AIR has split its dance and electronic recognition into more clearly defined lanes. A new Best Independent Dance\/Club Single category will spotlight club-driven tracks \u2014 including house, techno, trance, drum &amp; bass and garage \u2014 with eligibility requiring a DJ service component. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBest Independent Electronic Single will recognize electronic releases not designed primarily for club settings, separating festival-floor material from broader electronic artistry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe former Best Independent Dance or Electronica Album or EP category has been renamed Best Independent Electronic Album or EP to align with the updated single framework.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe changes reflect the continued growth of Australia\u2019s electronic export market, with independent dance artists increasingly building global touring profiles alongside streaming momentum. Electronic music remains one of the country\u2019s most internationally scalable indie genres.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe 2026 awards will feature 22 categories, including Independent Album of the Year, Independent Song of the Year, Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year (presented by PPCA), Best Independent Label, Independent Producer of the Year and Independent Mix, Studio or Mastering Engineer of the Year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSince launching in 2006, the Air Awards have presented more than 250 honors, with past nominees and winners including Amyl and the Sniffers, Genesis Owusu, Courtney Barnett, Flume, Sampa the Great, G Flip and Confidence Man.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAIR will again stage its Indie-Con Australia conference alongside A2IM\u2019s Indie Week Australian Edition from July 29\u201331 at Mercury Cinema and Nexus Arts in Adelaide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNow entering its third decade, the Air Awards arrives at a moment of recalibration for Australia\u2019s independent sector \u2014 with electronic music positioned as both a cultural driver and an export growth engine within the indie ecosystem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/air-awards-2026-nominations-open\/\">Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) has opened nominations for the 2026 Air Awards, introducing key changes to its dance and electronic categories as the event prepares to mark its 20th anniversary. The ceremony will return to Adelaide Town Hall on July 30, with eligible releases spanning Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2025. Nominations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}