PIAS’ Kenny Gates, Speedy Ortiz’ Sadie Dupuis & More Added to Bigsound Speaker Lineup
PIAS co-founder Kenny Gates, Speedy Ortiz vocalist Sadie Dupuis, Wham! and Marc Bolan manager Simon Napier-Bell, and Paradigm Talent Agency’s Jackie Nalpant are among the latest batch of speakers unveiled for Australia’s 2017 Bigsound summit.
They join the previously announced lineup for the Sept. 5-8 daytime conference stream, with ARIA Hall of Famer Tina Arena, award-winning artist Archie Roach, Worldwide Independent Network CEO Alison Wenham and many more tapped for the annual event in Brisbane.
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Bigsound is getting bigger. Now in its 16h year, the A&R event and industry summit is expanding its showcase program to a four-night format with each performing artist offered the chance to perform twice across the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and a huge chunk of cash is up for grabs. Up-and-comers Winston Surfshirt, Hatchie, Alex the Astronaut, Polaris, Mansionair and Ruby Fields are among the first round of performers confirmed in recent weeks.
Also, organizers are this year turning their attention to new media with its Music Tech Showcase, a MidemNet-inspired addition which offers ten innovators a chance to showcase for the industry.
More than 7,000 attendees are expected to attend this year’s Bigsound conference, which will again be held in the Sunshine State’s Fortitude Valley, with a string of venues throughout the entertainment district hosting the festival program. For the first time a AUS$100,000 prize pool will be made available to performers as a “financial leg-up”. Through the Levi’s Music Prize — the largest of its kind in Australian music history — AUS$25,000 will be awarded on the final day as judged by a panel of visiting international music industry experts. The program will then be opened up to Bigsound alumni that have featured in the nighttime music program over the last five years to apply for further AUS$25,000 prizes over the following three quarters.
For more information, visit Bigsound.org.au.
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