BIGSOUND Is Back! 2022 Details Confirmed As 'BIGSOUND Country' Revealed

BIGSOUND’s 2022 event is set to be its biggest yet, with organisers today confirming an in-person return for this September.

Celebrating its 21st birthday, the southern hemisphere’s biggest celebration of new music will once again take over Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, this year from 6-9 September.

It’ll be the first time since 2019 that BIGSOUND has been an in-person event, with artists, industry and fans reconnecting in a major way for the first time since the pandemic.

“We’re feeling from the industry far and wide that they’re itching to be back in rooms together and we couldn’t be more excited to get artists back on stages and industry back in their live element,” QMusic CEO Kris Stewart said.

To mark the occasion there’ll be a number of new additions to the festival and conference program, including the introduction of BIGSOUND Country, which will be “threaded throughout this year’s event, and will include a party, showcases, dedicated panels and a special show featuring some of Australia’s finest country music artists”.

This new arm of the BIGSOUND family aims to develop the conference and development side of country music here at home, while celebrating the fact that Australia is the world’s fastest-growing country music market.

“Our feedback in the past has been that a large proportion of country music artists and industry haven’t felt that BIGSOUND serviced them. We want to change that,” Stewart said. 

“We want artists from every spectrum of country music; pop, alt-country, bluegrass, First Nations country artists. Everybody!”

With BIGSOUND helping launch the likes of A.B. Original, Ball Park Music, Courtney Barnett, Flume, Gang Of Youths, Miiesha, Sampa The Great, Tash Sultana and stacks more over the years, artists are encouraged to apply for the 2022 event, with showcase applications also opening today via the BIGSOUND website.

There’ll be plenty of domestic and international industry at this year’s BIGSOUND on the lookout for Australia’s next big acts.

“By the time we get to September, it will have been three years since we have had an in-person BIGSOUND,” BIGSOUND Festival Co-Programmer Ruby-Jean McCabe said.

“This year we’re going big with 150 artists across 21 venues. That’s 300 performances over three nights with our industry all in the same rooms again across Fortitude Valley.

“It’s been two years of artists sitting in their bedrooms, lounge rooms, hometowns. These are artists who may not have yet performed live but are ready to make their industry debut at BIGSOUND. We’ll also have export-ready favourites to rediscover who will finally be able to impress BIGSOUND’s international delegates and speakers and take their music overseas.”

Former BIGSOUND artist and newly elected QMusic Management Committee member Thelma Plum added: “Growing up in Meanjin, BIGSOUND has always been such a huge vibe where fans, artists and industry from all over the country assemble over our common love for music.

“I played my first BIGSOUND in 2013, when I was super young, it was a huge opportunity for me and I absolutely encourage artists to apply. From totally new artists to more established acts, the line-up is always amazing.”

For more details on BIGSOUND 2022 and to apply, click here.