Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) will not hold the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) in 2025.

The annual recognition of radio and audio talent, which had more than 70 awards across 8 categories last year, will return in 2026 and is promised to be bigger and better than ever.

The news came via an internal memorandum explaining that CRA will “reallocate resources” to “crucial priorities, including significant cost pressures incurred from ongoing legal matters with the PPCA.”

The PPCA is currently campaigning to increase the amount of royalties the radio industry pays to composers, musicians and the companies that hold the rights to recorded music. The Copyright Act of 1968 imposes a royalty payment of a 1% of revenue on the amount that radio broadcasters are required to pay for the broadcast of sound recordings on their stations. Every time the legislation is reviewed the music industry campaigns to raise the percentage of the cap. Previous attempts have not been successful, but the music royalty landscape has changed with the coming of music streaming services.

CRA will also  “review and refresh… the categories, judging process, and events execution” to “reimage” how it “recognises excellence in Australian audio” for the annual commercial radio industry event.

A few years ago CRA reviewed its annual conference, which used to be held in conjunction with the awards, and refocused it towards advertising agencies, the resulting HEARD conference has proven to be successful.

The internal memo, seen by radioinfo, says the decision “was not easy to make.”

Commercial Radio Australia is not making any comment on its internal communication with members at this time.