Off the back of the successful 2025 edition of BIGSOUND, the annual conference and showcase has unveiled its dates for 2026.
Remaining one of the key events on the Australian and global music calendars, BIGSOUND will return in 2026 on September 1st-4th.
The 2025 edition saw 4,200 festivalgoers, including over 1,700 official delegates participating in over 500 event with 138 speakers and 130 bands. All while up to 10,000 fans attended the free all-ages stages in Brunswick St Mall and Goolwal Garden (Sound Garden) daily.
Doubling as a showcase artist bootcamp, it brought a curated selection of international heavy hitters to hear and see fresh Australian sounds and facilitates more than 750 artist meetings, along with multiple performance and development opportunities. Keynotes were delivered by some of Australia’s powerful artistic voices including BRIGGS, Mallrat and Tash Sultana.
International heavyweights at the conference and showcase included Blur drummer and author, Dave Rowntree — who shouted out Northern Rivers/Melbourne-based alt-rock group Loose Content as his favourite BIGSOUND act — and renowned British music executive Darcus Beese OBE — who shouted out BIG NOTER as a highlight. Meanwhile, radio giants including Ariana Morgenstern (KCRW) and Deb Grant (BBC Radio 6) represented just some of the key media figures who brought their wealth of knowledge to Brisbane to upskill and develop artists and industry workers alike.
Celebrating and highlighting First Nations talent, the Sound Garden became the Goolwal Garden, the home of Goolwal Goolwal, a program which centred Blak excellence with a beautifully curated series of music, discussions, events and celebrations.
The new and improved BIGSOUND Artist Hub presented by Spotify was a huge success with fully subscribed development sessions and workshops covering everything from getting booked and synced to managing your artist career long term.
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Key to the programming and delivery of BIGSOUND every year is the visual art activations, and with support from the Brisbane City Council, it elevated the 2025 experience, with a vivid and memorable playground for attendees to navigate.
Focused on delivering invaluable and unmissable opportunities to both international and domestic music industry players, BIGSOUND partnered with organisations like Sounds Australia to put our over 500 artists in front of movers and shakers across the music-biz.
“For over 15 years, Sounds Australia has been collaborating with BIGSOUND to deliver premier export pathways for the Australian showcasing artists,” said Esti Zilber, Executive Producer of Sounds Australia.
“Through 625 tailored one-on-one meetings this year, 35 influential international music industry professionals were connected with 66 emerging Australian acts. This highly curated experience opens doors to global opportunities, with tangible outcomes already being reported from both sides.”
