Katy Steele praises new music prize

Little Birdy lead singer Katy Steele says she's thrilled to see a music prize judged by musicians themselves.

The Australian Music Prize, or AMP 2005, was launched last month with entries closing on December 23 and organisers are expecting more than 300 submissions.

"It's good to have people that know what they are talking about having a chance to put forward an opinion in a judging contest because they are the people who spend hours and hours each day working on music," Steele said from her Perth home.

"These are people like Tim Rogers and Paul Kelly and people like that who are experts at what they do."

Prize Director Scott Murphy established AMP to financially reward and increase exposure for an Australian music artist or group who had produced and commercially released the best contemporary music album.

The AMP 2005 judging panel consists of 19 retail music specialists, 31 members of the media and 16 well-known music artists, including the likes of Renee Geyer, Katie Noonan, Joe Camilleri, Tim Freedman and Katy Steele.

The shortlist of eight finalists will be announced on February 6 and a winner will receive a cash prize of $25,000 at a function in Sydney on March 8.

"Hopefully the winner will get a lot of exposure out of it but the money is probably one of the best things as well because you could do anything with it," Steele said.

"You could do a recording, go touring and get your music heard."

Steele said it was particularly difficult for up and coming artists to get their music heard.

"There is a lot of music that is just not getting exposure," she said.

Meanwhile, Steele said Little Birdy were busy preparing for a tour of the east coast after the group cancelled a number of gigs last month.

"We cancelled a bunch of shows about a month ago because I got sick," she said.

The group is also working on a new album which means they will not be playing any of the major summer music festivals.

"We are probably going to be busy working on the new album," she said.

"It is a shame because it would be good to do it."