It’s been touted as something of campaign against hipsters, but in reality the triple j Hottest 100 has become about as Aussie as Australia Day gets. Either way, the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign is dividing music lovers and muckrakers for all sorts of reasons.
If it comes down to rules, however (and there are rules about this sort of thing) then triple j have a pretty easy out, if the Taylor Swift massive does indeed get her song, Shake It Off, over the line. It’s point #8 of their voting rules, which states pretty clearly…
‘Play fair! triple j reserves the right to remove artists from the list who have benefited from competitions or commercial campaigns that incentivise fans to vote for them.’
Not only is #Tay4Hottest100 a focussed campaign to force an artist into selection (or even victory) but it’s also become something of a commercial one, with KFC’s Facebook page requesting followers to name their favourite Tay Tay track for a chance to win a voucher to the value of, you guessed it, $19.89, with the hashtag featured prominently – along with ‘Tucky Swift – in the graphic.
ABC Online’s ‘Terms of Use’ also states that ‘the ABC reserves the right to reject contributions that have been widely canvassed in the forum. It also reserves the right to reject contributions from participants who seek to dominate the discussion.’
This is sure to please Perth music fan, Hayden Davies, who has started a petition on change.org to keep Swift out of the Hottest 100 (https://www.change.org/p/triple-j-hottest-100-do-not-allow-taylor-swift-to-feature-in-the-annual-triple-j-hottest-100)
Imma let you finish, but whether you’re a Taylor Swift fan or not, it’d be nice to see a song top this year’s Hottest 100 due to its merits (and a more natural alignment of forces), rather than via the worldwide fanbase of a global megastar combining with those who rather self-consciously identify as ‘mainstream’ using sheer might of numbers to stick it to the so-called ‘hipsters’.
May the best song win… one of them anyway.
BOB GORDON
