BIGSOUND Festival Announces Program and Timetable

In case you weren’t excited enough for your yearly live music pilgrimage to Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley Live Music Precinct for a sensory overload of music, BIGSOUND Festival has shown all its cards, dropping all the tools you need today to choose your own sonic adventure.

All 18 venues across four nights of music are now programmed and available on the BIGSOUND Festival website and in the exclusive BIGSOUND app (available on iOS and Android), ready for you to cut your path across 140+ of Australia’s hottest acts. With some last minute additions sneaking in over the last week including Oh Mercy, Abbe May, Slotface and more, you’ll need to dive in to find the hidden gems that this year’s BIGSOUND Festival has landed for your consideration.

The BIGSOUND conference program has also hit, with a massive array of topics from race, culture, gender, identity and mental health through to export, technology, touring, release strategies, Australian content, crisis management and more. Wondering what exporting to Asia could look like? Wondering what Brexit means for exporting to the UK? Ever wondered how to get into composition for film, TV and theatre? Want to know why everyone bangs on about AI? Or want to hear wisdom from industry legends like Tina Arena, Archie Roach, Simon Napier-Bell, Mary Ramos or Alison Wenham? Never has BIGSOUND had a wider range of topics, a more interesting selection of speakers or a clearer mandate to influence the conversation of a rapidly changing industry.

Oh, and did we mention we dropped another 89 speakers? We thought you wouldn’t notice. How about 360, Brett Cottle (APRA), Monique Bour (MTV Australia), Chris

Scaddan (ABC Radio), Michelle Johnson (Super Music Vision US), Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus/journalist), Brian Turner (WFMU US), Bec Sandridge and half a pub’s worth of our closest friends?

BIGSOUND Festival also announces today the Music Tech businesses who will be attending to show off their technical innovations and receive mentoring from an incredible range of tech and music influencers. This year we welcome SamplerBox, LoveBusk, OpenLIVE, Muzeroom, Audeara, Prysim, VibeWire, Mish Guru, Maven Music and Royalty Tracks. Want to know more? Check out their profiles on the BIGSOUND Festival website.

Our BIGSOUND visual artists have also been revealed today, an amazing group who will be spectacularly changing the streetscape and aesthetic of Fortitude Valley in a way you’ve never seen before. We welcome Catriona Drummond, Alinta, Helena Papageorgiou, Ward Squires, Phoebe Paradise, Blair Foley, Niqui Toldi, Sam McKenzie and Sarah Winter.

“BIGSOUND Festival 2017 is the culmination of several years of preparation to take things to the next level,” said QMusic Executive Officer Joel Edmondson. “We’re excited to bring everyone together in September to experience what we have in store! Thanks to the many, many people who make BIGSOUND what it is, including everyone that attends the event.”

Like to party? Of course you do! Tuesday brings the Women in Music afternoon and Social State Welcome Party. Wednesday serves up lunchtime parties from CAAMA Music and Tasmania then the afternoon progresses with Cattleyard, Hub Digital Distribution’s launch, Levi’s Music Prize launch party and Red Bull Sound Select. Thursday kicks off with Bacon and Bangers at Music Industry College for breakfast then BEMAC, Gold Coast Music Awards, AMIN lunch, Made in Adelaide, Sounds from Chile, the famous Oztix BIGSOUND party, the Home Indigenous showcase and Brisbane City Council Qube Effect showcase. And for those still standing, the Secret Sounds/TheMusic after party kicks off after midnight on Thursday. Friday delivers the official Mountain Goat Beer closing party with another huge lineup of live music to wrap up your BIGSOUND Festival experience. If you thought you partied hard last year, you ain’t seen nothing yet.