The AMP.

The SOUNDMERCH Australian Music Prize (The AMP) exists to discover, reward and promote new Australian music of excellence.

The AMP was launched in 2005, with the album 'Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By' by The Drones being the inaugural winner.

The AMP works via a 3 Stage judging system. Using judges that are nominated by music industry executives, every eligible album, in each calendar year, is listened to.

Judges are only either:
— established musicians
— music retailers
— music media

Each judge must agree that they will listen to each album assigned to them, in full, at least once before filing a judgement. They must also agree to notify AMP administration of any personal and/or business connections to the artists who have eligible albums.

The Stage 1 panel of judges listen to eligible albums which have been randomly assigned to them by the Prize Director. In 2019, there were 440 eligible albums listened to and from which, 107 were Nominated by the judges as 'the best of 2019'.

The Stage 2 panel of judges listen to the Nominated albums and work with the Prize Director, to determine which albums will form the Shortlist — the 9 finalists.

The Stage 3 panel of judges meet, face-to-face, to decide on one winner.

To date, the winner has received $30,000 in prize money but most winners have said that the coverage and support they receive from winning has been more support of their careers than the prize money. 

To date, The AMP's running costs and prize money have been funded by sponsorship — both from industry businesses that stand to profit from a healthy music industry and on occasion, from others such as the Coopers and Mountain Goat breweries and Red Bull. In 2020 The AMP has launched its own t-shirt store, online, to raise funds.