Universal Music was the big winner at the 2009 ARIA scoring 12 gongs on the evening.
As the distributor of Liberation, ABC, Dew Process, Ivy League and Modular, Universal Music scored points off Troy Cassar-Daly (Liberation), Sarah Blasko (Dew Process), Ladyhawke and The Presets (Modular), Josh Pyke (Ivy League), The Wiggles (ABC) and well as for their own in-house release for Daniel Merriweather.EMI came in second place, with thanks to Empire of the Sun winning seven awards. The company also picked up a shared award for Engineer of the Year for the You Am I ‘Dilettantes’ album.
Sony won five awards, two for AC/DC, one for Hamish & Andy, one for Jessica Mauboy and the Jazz Award for Katie Noonan. That was a disappointing result considering Mauboy was nominated for seven awards.
The real surprise of the night was Warner Music who walked away with none. The label was up for nominations for Evermore, Zoe Badwi, Lisa Mitchell and Eskimo Joe.
Indie MGM won two awards for Seaman Dan and Bertie Blackman, Shock won one for CW Stoneking and Inertia won an award for SIA.
