The Australian Music Radio Airplay Project has today launched stage two of AirIT, a free online Australian music catalogue created exclusively for community radio stations across the country. This means that all unsigned and independent Australian recording artists will now be eligible to apply to AirIT. Previously the majority of artists had been signed to a label.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy congratulated the project on providing a great new resource.

“AirIT is not only a valuable resource for community broadcasters, it will also assist with professional development and promotion for all Australian musicians, both established and emerging,” says Conroy.

Senator Conroy said since the launch of the project late last year, around 5,000 orders of Australian music had been delivered to community radio and more than 100 community radio stations had used the service to order Australian music for airplay.

“Over 50 major and independent Australian record labels have so far submitted their artists to AirIT.”

AMRAP is funded in the 2008-09 budget with $2.4 million over four years, as part of the Rudd Government’s broader support for community broadcasting.