Welcome to BIGSOUND

Welcome to the very first 100% virtual BIGSOUND! 

This has no doubt been one of the toughest years in our history to deliver this event, but this year, more than ever, we knew the music community needed to come together and celebrate the stories, share the lessons and prop each other up and create a stronger platform for our future. 

BIGSOUND 2020 delivers a wide range of topics and discussions aiming to re-future a challenged industry with positivity, connection and reality. We have launched a virtual BIGSOUND First Nations House presented with Spotify, which profiles the talented First Nation Artists part of The BIGSOUND50. Further to this, Spotify has worked with our First Nations Producer, Alethea Beetson, to film eight of these artists all over the country to produce two stunning showcases. A big thank you to Spotify, Made in Katana and Carbon Creative for these showcases, I urge you to watch them on the First Nations House Stream from 8pm (AEST) each night.  

The Conference Program is inspiring and is stretched across three streams, the Main Conference Stream where some of the world's biggest names in music share their lessons and experiences with you, the Professional Development Stream, which shares tips and tricks to excel in your music practice, and the Mental Health Stream in partnership with Levi's®, which features an extensive program of sessions with industry experts and Australia music legends. 

To inspire you with the next hottest names in music, head over to The BIGSOUND50 and discover every artist listed! This amazing group of artists will be household names within the next 12-24 months, if they aren't already. We are so excited to be working over the next 12 months with this group of artists and urge you to listen to The BIGSOUND50 playlist to get to know them all better. 

Thank you to my QMusic team for pulling BIGSOUND together this year. A special thanks to the programmers, Creative Director Janne Scott, Conference Programmer Tom Larkin, First Nations Producer Alethea Beetson and Festival Programmers Ruby Jean-McCabe and Dom Miller. I'd also like to extend a warm thanks to the partners who continued this amazing ride with us, including Queensland Government, Australia Council for the Arts, Tourism and Events Queensland, The Music, triple j, Apple Music, AON, APRA AMCOS, BigFish, Green Music Australia, HighJinkx, JMC Academy, Leadership Space, Levi's®, Manitoba Music, OzTix, Spotify and Twitter. 

BIGSOUND has always been about bringing our business and arts community together and while we were hopeful of being in our spiritual home in the Fortitude Valley live music precinct, 2020 made other arrangements. It has never been more important for the Australian industry to come together to focus on survival and re-futuring. We welcome you to join us for this unique virtual BIGSOUND and celebrate (almost) making it through 2020.

Angela Samut

Chief Executive Officer
QMusic Network

We are proud to once again partner with BIGSOUND, now in its 19th year, and particularly in this year of disruption that has demonstrated, more clearly than ever, the power of music to connect us.

We applaud BIGSOUND for its major focus this year on First Nations artists. Our recent research, including the First Nations Music survey, showed the tremendous strengths and also challenges for the sector, as well as the growing demand for First Nations music and creative work among both local and international audiences.

We also congratulate QMusic, the organisers of BIGSOUND for their ingenuity and flexibility in adapting this important event to be delivered online. The move to a free, virtual event will allow even greater access for audiences, and opportunities for virtual attendees to connect and network globally.

We know the music industry has been among those hardest hit by the impact of COVID-19. This is why events such as BIGSOUND are so critical. As our National Arts Participation research shows – Australian’s love music, and the experience of live performance will be key to bringing audiences back to venues and reigniting domestic tourism, making it particularly crucial as we seek to bring life back to our cities, regions, culture and economy.

This year, more than ever, we hope you enjoy BIGSOUND, and are confident the event will continue to enable important industry connections as well as the sharing of ideas and of course, great music.

Adrian Collette 

Chief Executive Officer
Australia Council for the Arts