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Voting for the Victorian music industry's premiere awards has been hacked, resulting in new winners being announced in several categories.
Music Victoria has issued a statement saying it had recently become aware that voting for its 2024 awards had been targeted by "unknown assailant/s".
It said the hacking had resulted in thousands of what it described as "misregistered votes" being falsely attributed to nominees who were presented with the awards at a gala ceremony in Melbourne in October.
New winners have now been announced in five of the six publicly voted categories, but Music Victoria said the original winners will also get to retain the honours.
The affected categories were Best Song, Best Album, Best Solo Artist, Best Group and Best Regional Act.
"The Music Victoria Awards strive to elevate and celebrate our wonderful music community," the independent peak organisation said in its statement.
"We acknowledge the disappointment and devastation this news may cause members."
| Category | Winner announced on the night | Newly allocated winner |
|---|---|---|
| Best Song | Good Morning - Excalibur | Jess Ribeiro - Summer of Love |
| Best Album | Gregor - Satanic Lullabies | Angie McMahon - Light, Dark, Light, Again |
| Best Solo Artist | Audrey Powne | Maple Glider |
| Best Group | RVG | Gut Health |
| Best Regional Act | Zoj | Leah Senior |
The voting system was run by voting software company, Award Force.
Music Victoria said it had notified the Victoria Police Cybercrime, Fraud, Scams and Online Safety Unit.
It said it was working with Award Force and cyber security experts to reduce the risk of the bungle happening again.
The musical duo Zoj said in a statement to the ABC that they congratulated all the winners and "we wish them all the best".
Music journalist Tyler Jenke said it's a bittersweet moment for the newly awarded musicians. (Supplied)
Freelance music journalist Tyler Jenke said he was shocked by the news.
"It was not something that I thought would happen," Jenke said.
"If you see a bit of a headline saying 'voting fraud' you're not usually thinking it's going to be about the Australian music scene or the Victorian music scene or something that would actually impact artists that you know and enjoy."
Jenke said he did not expect the incident would taint the Victorian music scene, and he praised Music Victoria's transparency.
But he said it would be a difficult time for the artists affected by the hack.
"I think they'd be feeling really rough about it, to say the least.
“No one would be feeling good about the whole situation.”
Affected nominees and other industry employees were being offered free telephone counselling.
Music Victoria said it could not comment further as the matter was with the police.
Award Force has not responded to the ABC.