BIGSOUND Gets Down To International Business: First Round Speakers

With 2016 marking the 15th anniversary of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier music industry gathering, BIGSOUND has today unleashed its first announcement of speakers and buyers.

Some of the world’s biggest musical decision makers will check out 150 hot new artists and participate in forums and networking over the event’s three massive days from 7-9 September. With artist applications extended for two more weeks, and early bird ticket purchases closing this Sunday (15 May), there’s still time to make sure you’re where the action is in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley this spring.

Headline speaker will be UNIFIED’s Jaddan Comerford, who'll travel home from his base in New York to share his knowledge and learnings, steering the career of Vance Joy as well as leading the charge in heavy music’s resurgence.

Jaddan Comerford

A.B. Original, featuring Australian hip hop royalty Briggs and Trials who'll present a keynote interview with Lindsay 'The Doctor' McDougall. Other speakers include Jim Pitt (Conan O'Brien's music segment producer) Wild Card Music Director Marcy Buckley and Good Ear Music Supervisor Jackie Shuman.

Also joining BIGSOUND from stateside will be some of the globe’s most respected A&R executives: Universal Music Publishing Group’s Taylor Testa (Kacy Hill, Tobias Jesso Jr), ATO’s Jon Salter (My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes), Vagrant Records/BMG’s Jeremy Maciak (The 1975, PJ Harvey), Zac Ives from Goner Records (Jay Reatard, Ty Segall), Emmy Feldman from Canvasback (War On Drugs, Alt-J, Frightened Rabbit), The Royalty Network’s Lawson Higgins (Justin Townes Earle, The Soft Pack) and Secretly Publishing’s Jon Coombs (Bon Iver, Jens Lekman).

Lindsay McDougall

Live bookers attending include New York institution The Bowery, German metal agency Avocado Booking, London’s ATC Live, Hong Kong’s Songs for Children and UK and US representatives from one of the biggest global bookers Creative Artists Agency, home to over 3,400 of the biggest artists in the world.

With just a small slice of the anticipated 100+ speakers and buyers, this first announcement is an exciting window into the patchwork of industry that will make BIGSOUND’s fifteenth year its biggest yet.

Artist applications are open until 22 May with artists and managers encouraged to click here to nominate.

Bigsound Speakers

Jaddan Comerford – UNIFIED (AUS) - keynote
A.B. Original (Briggs & Trials) (AUS) - keynote
Matt Ash - Raw Power Management (USA)
Alex Becket – Creative Artists Agency (USA)
Alex Bruford – ATC Live (UK)
Marcy Bulkely – Wild Card AV (USA)
Laura Byrne – Made In Katana / The Scouted (AUS)
Jon Coombs – Secretly Publishing (USA)
Dana Erickson – Grandstand Media & Management (USA)
Emmy Feldman – Canvasback (USA)
Jane Flynn – Songs For Children (Hong Kong)
Sebastian Freed – The Bowery Presents (USA)
Alastair Green – Maker (AUS)
Lawson Higgins – The Royalty Network, Inc (USA)
Zac Ives – Goner Records (USA)
Jeremy Maciak – Vagrant Records / BMG (USA)
Lindsay McDougall (AUS) Dean Ormston – APRA AMCOS (AUS)
Jim Pitt – Conan (USA) Josh Roth – Superfly (USA)
Katie Rynne – Select Music (AUS)
Jon Salter – ATO Records (USA)
Jackie Shuman – Good Ear Music Supervision (USA)
Chris Swanson – Secretly Group (USA)
Edwin Tehrani – New World Artists (AUS)
Taylor Testa – Universal Music Publishing Group (USA)
Roman Trystram – Creative Artists Agency (UK)
Marco Walzel – Avocado Booking (GER)
Tom Wironen – Post Hoc Management (USA)