A music label which represents several Indigenous artists has lambasted radio station Triple M over its plan to hold a music countdown on Australia Day.
Radio station Triple M has caused controversy with its plan to broadcast its own 'Ozzfest 100' music countdown on Australia Day.
The move was criticised by Indigenous artists and community leaders who said it was a slap in the face for the movement to change the date of Australia Day from January 26.
Triple M's announcement came less than a month after the ABC's popular radio station Triple J decided to move the date of its popular Hottest 100 countdown to make the broadcast an event for "everyone to enjoy".
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Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown will be held instead on Saturday, January 27.
The Triple M announcement has been labelled as "a slap in the face" by Mark Grose, the managing director of Skinnyfish, a music label which represents several Indigenous artists including the late Dr G Yunupingu.
"I think it’s disgraceful," Mr Grose told SBS News.
"There’s plenty of evidence and discussion about what Australia Day means to Aboriginal people. For a company, radio station or anyone to say 'we don’t care what Aboriginal people think, we’re going to have our own Hot 100 because we think it’s the right thing to do,' it's disgusting."
Mr Grose equated Triple M's move to "people climbing Uluru," which was recently banned by traditional owners due to the sacredness of the site.
In its announcement, Triple M vowed to deliver the "perfect Australia Day soundtrack" with the playlist to feature only songs by local artists, and not what it called the "hipster" or computer drive songs they think Triple J favours.
Mr Grose said an expression that came to mind when hearing Triple J's countdown promotion was "redneck radio".
"What is the perfect Australia Day soundtrack, playing all the past hits?" Mr Grose said.
"Is it playing what was played on Triple J? is it making sure that Indigenous Australians are well represented on that playlist? So who knows what the perfect Australia Day soundtrack is?.
The move was also criticised by Triple M host and comedian Wil Anderson, who called the decision "extremely disappointing".
Indigenous rapper Briggs and CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Kon Karapanagiotidis, were among social media users to slam Triple M.
Briggs said on Twitter the decision was "pandering to white nationalists & racists".
Triple M Head Of Content Mike Fitzpatrick said he'd stand by the station's decision in a statement to website Music Feeds.
“At Triple M we are avid supporters of Aussie music and like we do throughout the year and every Australia Day we will celebrate Aussie artists,” he said.
