Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland in Australia, might seem an unusual place to find Australia’s best-known music industry conference — unusual at least to those more familiar with the global reputations of cities like Sydney and Melbourne as Australian entertainment hubs.
The fact is that since its inception in 2001, Big Sound has quietly been building its reputation as a music industry summit not just nationally but globally too.
Organised by Q Music (Queensland’s government body dedicated to all matters musical), the conference is held in Brisbane’s entertainment precinct, Fortitude Valley, and is sponsored primarily by the Queensland government. Recognised as the fastest-growing music industry summit in the Asia-Pacific region, it attracts music professionals from Australia and around the world. It also does a fine job of showcasing emerging musical talent from Australia.
This year’s conference, held in September, was possibly the most impressive Big Sound event yet. With over 88 speakers, including legends (like Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records), leaders (like John Watson of the successful Australian indie label, Eleven Music), thinkers (like Peter Jenner) and a host of prominent industry practitioners from around the world, the breadth of discussion over the three days was — not surprisingly — dominated by the rapidly changing characteristics of the often confusing music business.
Through the range of panel discussions on various topics related to music there was a sustained note of confidence and, more importantly, optimism.From designing new business models to optimising digital distribution, music publishing, the role of mass media in music, discovering and cultivating new talent, artist touring, music licensing, music festivals, managing your own career as an artist and music publishing, there were a multitude of issues that were discussed here.
As with any industry conference, networking plays a vital role in the creation of new partnerships and potential business propositions. At Big Sound, delegates utilised their access to a vast variety of professionals from across music-related fields more than constructively. And making those vital connections was given topmost priority. This is the kind of behaviour which in the past has successfully resulted in labels signing artists, international touring for local artists, synch and publishing deals and even international airplay for Australian artistes.
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What could be mistaken for the leisurely end of the conference, but was in fact its very soul, was the daily evening showcase. And from what I heard, this is where real deals get cracked. With some 40 emerging Australian artistes staged across five venues over two days, I found my personal favourites: Flamingo Crash, The Gin Club, Skipping Girl Vinegar and The Dead Sea. Some others failed to impress.
Big Sound is different to global music conferences like Midem, Musexpo and SXSW. For one thing, Big Sound is a smaller affair and, while the bigger ones focus on the music industry globally, it is still at the stage where its main focus is to link Australian music business to the rest of the world. It has been successful and one proof of this was Billboard magazine identifying Brisbane as one of the five music destinations to pay attention to in 2007. The outcomes of this year’s conference have yet to be announced, but we’re sure it’ll only put a smile on the face of everyone involved.
