BIGSOUND 2020
Dates Announced

1-4 September 2020

BIGSOUND, the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest new live music festival and music conference is returning to Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct from Tuesday 1 – Friday 4 September 2020.

In 2020, the BIGSOUND Indigenous program led by our First Nations Producer Alethea Beetson will commence a little earlier on Sunday 30 August 2020.

There will be some new firsts too in 2020 including something big for the little soundmakers.

Thanks to the National Live Music Awards, BIGSOUND has also been nominated for Best Live Event! This really is a nod to each and every one of you who support BIGSOUND and make it what it is. You can vote for BIGSOUND on the NLMA website. The Gala event is being held at The Tivoli on Wednesday 4 December.

Image: Kymie, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist. Photo by Bianca Holderness.

Hooligan Hefs, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist. Photo by Aimee Catt.

Tasman Keith, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist. Photo by Bianca Holderness.

Produced by QMusic, and majorly supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts as well as the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, BIGSOUND 2019 was one of the biggest to-date. Thanks also to our major partners Virgin, Levi’s® Australia, Oztix, Mountain Goat, YouTube Music, Spotify and Ovolo Valley plus our other 46 BIGSOUND partners.

This year BIGSOUND hosted 147 official showcasing artists of which 71 were fronted by females and non-binary artists, 176 speakers, over 1,700 delegates and thousands of festival punters across four days and nights. 2019 also saw BIGSOUND’s largest, and strongest program to-date of First Nations speakers and artists.

BIGSOUND introduced the Spotify First Nations House, the inclusion of three important conversations in the International Year of Indigenous Languages, and the groundbreaking joint keynote exploring Indigenous experiences across the globe. 

Showcasing artists were supported with accommodation, workshops and health and wellbeing services at the YouTube Music Artist Village.

BIGSOUND also welcomed the expanded support of the Brisbane City Council for the visual arts program in 2019. The BCC helped us bring the Valley to life to showcase Brisbane at its best for live music fans from across Australia and the world.

2019 showcasing artist Miiesha told QMusic that she came in with a plan and out with a stack of top deals!

“BIGSOUND was an awesome opportunity to share my music with the whole industry. I got to perform with my band for the first time and have meetings with labels, booking agents, managers, publishers, media and others all in the one area of Brisbane. By the end of the festival I’d signed a deal with EMI and joined the Village Sounds roster to represent me for bookings which is amazing.
A big crazy few days!”

Miiesha, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist

2019 showcasing group Dregg also sealed a management deal.

“BIGSOUND connected us to the like-minded industry people we needed to push our band to the next level,” said 2019 showcasing artist Dregg, who recently inked a management deal with Jon Halperin and Adam LaRue and have plans to tour to the US in the near future.

The Levi’s® Music Prize winner, Sudanese Refugee, Gordan Koang was another highlight who joined some of the hottest new acts on the Australian live music scene.

Artist applications for BIGSOUND will open in early 2020.

Tickets will be on sale in the new year, with pre-sale available to QMusic members.

Gordon Koang, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist. Photo by Justin Ma.

DREGG, 2019 BIGSOUND Showcasing Artist. Photo by Justin Ma.

BIGSOUND is produced by QMusic, and majorly supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts as well as the Queensland Government led by Tourism and Events Queensland, Brisbane City Council and Brisbane Marketing.

BIGSOUND is also supported by major sponsors - Virgin, Levi’s® Australia, Oztix, Mountain Goat, YouTube Music, Spotify, Ovolo Valley and all other event partners.

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