BIGSOUND announces its second lineup of speakers for 2017

BIGSOUND’s list of industry speakers was already looking flush, but it’s just been bolstered even further by the addition of some serious international muscle.

Leading the second announcement are co-founder of global indie label PIAS, Kenny Gates, and Speedy Ortiz vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sadie Dupuis, both of whom will be giving keynote talks at the conference.

Also making appearances are ARIA CEO Dan Rosen, former Wham! and Marc Bolan manager Simon Napier-Bell, Pitchfork writer Jillian Mapes, Vevo talent manager Carl Young, Captured Tracks A&R Mike Sniper, Paradigm Talent Agency’s Jackie Nalpant and Marshall Betts, Slate Entertainment founder/CEO Keith Tan, and C3 Management’s Joe Greenwald, among others.

The first lineup already included keynotes and panels with music icons Tina Arena and Archie Roach, alongside Ninja Tune’s Eva Trifonas, triple j Music Director Nick Findlay, Sub Pop’s Stuart Meyer, 4AD’s Jane Abernathy and a long list of other industry figures.

This year will also see the introduction of the Music Tech Showcase, which will see 10 tech innovators showcasing their products on the Wednesday, following a series of workshops to help them refine their pitches.

Mentors for the program include Joel Connolly (Blackbird Ventures), Colin Kinner (Startup Onramp), Murray Galbraith (Myriad), Shelli Trung (QUT Creative Enterprise), Peta Ellis (River City Labs) and Tom Larkin (SIGNAL Artist Development Accelerator, VVV MGT and artist). Entries are open now at  and close on July 15.

Anyone can be in the running, and entries will be open until July 15 through the BIGSOUND website, as are a range of festival passes. Anyone booking their flights through partner Virgin Australia on the BIGSOUND site will also be in the running for two return airfares to anywhere the airline travels internationally, so if you’re flying Virgin because of the 64kg artist baggage allowance, you might be in luck.

In an effort to support as many emerging artists as possible – and as early in their careers as possible – this year also sees the introduction of the $100,000 Levi’s Music Prize, the biggest artist prize in BIGSOUND history, along with the return of the youth-focused Little BIGSOUND.

Tickets are on sale now, with single night passes $45 and four-night passes just $85. If you want access to the conferences, delegate portal and countless label parties on top of the showcases, Access All Areas passes can be had for $470, with special rates until July 31.

Check out the full lineup below, and head to the BIGSOUND site for tickets and more details.

BIGSOUND 2017 industry speakers/buyers

Kenny Gates – PIAS (BEL) – Keynote

Sadie Dupuis – Speedy Ortiz (USA) – Keynote

Aminé Ramer – States of Sound (USA)

Ben Godding – AWAL/Kobalt Music Recordings (AUS)

Ben O’Connor – Chapter Music (AUS)

Ben Swanson – Secretly Group (USA)

Bill Wilson – Music Biz (USA)

Cameron Schaefer – Vinyl Me, Please (USA)

Carl Young – Vevo (UK)

Charles Kirby-Welch – Kartel (UK)

Chris Twite – Secret Sounds / Brisbane Festival (AUS)

Clémence Bizien – Super! (France)

Dan Rosen – ARIA (AUS)

David Sheils – APRA AMCOS (AUS)

Elspeth Scrine – LISTEN / Huntley (AUS)

Emma Calverley – Australian Cultural Fund (AUS)

Emily Kelly – Deathproof (AUS)

Farinoush Mostaghimi – SynchAudio (CAN)

Haley Connelly – Little Press (UK)

Heath Miller – Webster Hall & Excess dB Entertainment (USA)

Hugh McClure – Good Manners (AUS)

Jackie Nalpant – Paradigm Talent Agency (USA)

Jake Friedman – We Are Free Management (USA)

Jane Gazzo – Triple M (AUS)

Jeff Owens – Felte / Ghostly International (USA)

Jennie Sager – Twitter (AUS)

Jeremy Yohai – Imagem Music Publishing (USA)

Dr. Jess Carniel – University of Southern QLD (AUS)

Jillian Mapes – Pitchfork (USA)

Joe Greenwald – C3 Management (USA)

Joel Connolly – Blackbird Ventures (AUS)

Karl Richter – Level Two Music (AUS)

Kate Mills – Native Tongue Publishing (AUS)

Keith Tan – Slate Entertainment (SIN)

Lars Brandle – Billboard (AUS)

Leigh Treweek – The Music / Handshake MGMT (AUS)

Marshall Betts – Paradigm Talent Agency (USA)

Matt Fiedler – Vinyl Me, Please (USA)

Mel Yong – Village Sounds & Other Sounds (AUS)

Mike Sniper – Captured Tracks (USA)

Nic Warnock – R.I.P. Society Records / Repressed Records (AUS)

Paul Barclay – ABC RN (AUS)

Peymon Maskan – Media Arts Lab (USA)

Shelli Trung – QUT CEA (AUS)

Simon Napier-Bell – Pierbel Ltd. UK (UK)

Steel Hanf – WME (AUS)

Tom Taaffe – United Talent Agency (UK)

Zena White – Partisan Records (UK/USA)

Ziggy Ramo – Artist (AUS)

Joining…

Archie Roach (AUS) – Keynote

Tina Arena (AUS) – Keynote

Adel Hattem – D Music Marketing (Brazil)

Alison Wenham – Worldwide Independent Network (UK)

Andrew Jervis – Bandcamp (USA)

Ash Kerley – Girls Rock! (AUS)

Bill Roe – Trouble In Mind Records (USA)

Bob Van Heur – Le Guess Who? Festival / Belmont Bookings (NL)

Eva Trifonas – Ninja Tune (AUS)

Isla Angus – ATC Live (UK)

Ivy Yuen – Magnetic Asia Limited (Hong Kong)

James Clarke – Aeroplane Agency (AUS)

James Moodie – The Orchard (UK)

Jane Abernathy – 4AD Records (USA)

Jenn Yacoubian – Goldenvoice (USA)

Lucy Wood – Festival Republic (UK)

Mary Ramos – Saturday Music Inc. (USA)

Mazin Tappuni – Communion Music (UK)

Mel Brown – Impressive PR (UK)

Melissa Woods – Third Side Music (USA)

Mike Ajayi – All My Friends (UK)

Nick Findlay – triple j (AUS)

Paul Adams – New Community Management / Roc Nation (USA)

Peter Berard – Domino Recording Co. Ltd. (USA)

Poppy Reid – Seventh Street Media (AUS)

Rebecca Young – Collective Artists (AUS)

Ric Leichtung – Adhoc (USA)

Roy Amar – Bear Parts Music (AUS)

Stuart Meyer – Sub Pop (USA)

Sullivan Patten – Sullivan (AUS)

Sylvie Piccolotto – Rock City (Argentina)

Zan Rowe – triple j (AUS)

Bigsound 2017 first artist announcement

Alex The Astronaut

Alexander Biggs

ALTA

Aurelia

Baker Boy

Bespin (NZ)

BOAT SHOW

Body Type

Brightness

Clowns

Daggy Man

Dobby

Donny Benét

Dream Rimmy

ELKI

Endless Heights

Fanny Lumsden

Good Morning

Haiku Hands

Hatchie

Hayden Calnin

Hockey Dad

Horace Bones

Introvert

Isabel

IV League

Jess Locke

Jim Lawrie

Joyride

Kardajala Kirridarra (Sandhill Women)

Kylie Auldist

Lonelyspeck

Maddy Jane

mama kin spender

Mammals

Mansionair

Maribelle

Merk (NZ)

Miss Blanks

nyck

Obscura Hail

OKBadlands

Pagan

Pandamic

Party Dozen

Peter Bibby

Polaris

Polographia

POW! Negro

RUBY FIELDS

Seavera

Sloan Peterson

Spirit Bunny

Splashh (UK)

The Cactus Channel

The Creases

The Teskey Brothers

Tigerilla

TOTAL GIOVANNI

WHALEHOUSE

Willaris. K

Winston Surfshirt

Yoste

Ziggy Ramo

With more to be announced

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.