BIGSOUND: Programmer Nick O’Byrne discusses 2014 conference

The 2013 edition of BIGSOUND saw an attendee footfall of 5,513 and with a growing program year on year, the conference has arguably become the nation’s biggest music industry event. While the 2014 program is yet to be released, this year is already exceeding last year’s edition with keynote speeches from The Church, Neil Finn and Bluesfest Director Peter Noble, plus panel discussions with Spotify’s Will Page, CMJ’s Matt McDonald, Atlantic Records’ Mollie Moore and SXSW’s Brad First. The eclectic mix of more than 50 industry figures teamed with the 140 up-and-coming Australian artists set to perform over 14 live venues in Brisbane looks set to trigger the conference’s biggest participation yet.

Speaking to TMN ahead of next month’s edition, BIGSOUND Programmer Nick O’Byrne offers a rundown on what to expect, what the conference’s big talking points will be, its new introductions, the partnerships spawned at the 2013 event and his advice for virgin attendees.

What worked well last year and what areas did you work on for this year’s event?

I was lucky to inherit an event which has a history of smart management and programming – so there will be some continuity between this program and last year’s program. You’ll find that 2014’s program has a slightly stronger focus on the place of indie labels in the industry (which I think is under-rated and under-valued), we’ll discuss why booking agents make the best A&R scouts in the country and we’ll also talk about the responsibilities and roles of great festival curators.

There’s an overarching focus on equipping managers and artists to strategically export and market themselves online. Our panel on touring Asia is something that I’m proud of, as is the discussion we’ll have around the role of music media on the Internet.

Will any new program introductions from 2013 make their way onto this year’s program?

There will be a bunch of mini-keynote talks from some of the world’s leading experts in music data. These guys have a gift for interpreting large amounts of information and turning them into fascinating insights for our industry. There’s a strong focus on touring – Asia, North America and Europe. I’m also stoked that we’ve got a panel inspired by Justin Heazlewood’s (The Bedroom Philosopher) brutally honest book about being a musician in Australia, Funemployed. 

Are there any panel discussion topics which we can expect to be dominant talking points this year?

There’ll be a panel dedicated entirely to triple j and its place in our industry – that ought to get people talking. I also think the genre-specific panels will be really interesting, The Battle For Country Music discussion will be fascinating given the political turmoil that genre has gone through in the last year while our panel on The Future Of Australian Hip Hop could get pretty heated.

There has been a lot of media coverage over online piracy, YouTube’s streaming service and the consequential Fair Digital Deals Declaration, will these ongoing issues be covered at BIGSOUND?

Fair Digital Deals, Piracy and the pros/cons of streaming services are topics that publishers, labels and artists all have to deal with so there’s no point ghettoising them into a stand-alone discussion. I expect the realities of the Internet permeate in one way or another into almost every discussion throughout the event. 

Which speakers are you most looking forward to hearing from?

Heaps! The Church’s keynote panel will be awesome. So enigmatic, so legendary! Anthony Fantano is a brilliant speaker too. Darius Van Armen from Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguar is an incredible thinker, shrewd business-man and has immaculate taste in music. Tim Charles from Sydney-based metal band Ne Obliviscaris now holds the Australian record for a crowd-funding campaign. Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio will be pretty interesting given they were childhood mates and have now built one of Australia’s stand-out touring festivals – The St. Jerome’s Laneway. Danny also co-managers Chvrches, Gotye, Temper Trap, DD Dumbo BTW! I can’t wait to hear Will Page (Chief Economist at Spotify) and Liv Buli (data journalist at Next Big Sound and Forbes) either.

Last year BIGSOUND accommodated 1129 conference attendees and 4384 BIGSOUND live attendees, what are you hoping for this year?

More!

It’s not an inexpensive trip for most of your international key speakers, how have you made the trip cost effective for them?

We don’t want to fully subsidise anyone’s trip to Brisbane because we think that the fact delegates get the chance to see amazing Australian artists before they’ve even left our shores should provide enough incentive to come out to Australia.

That said, BIGSOUND has a limited budget to help bring buyers and speakers to Brisbane so we often contribute some of their costs on the proviso that they take half a dozen or more one-on-one meetings with Australian delegates, artists and managers. They’re obliged to watch the showcases and of course speak on panels too.

For some, BIGSOUND is the ideal starting ground for partnerships, licensing deals and requited relationships. It’s as much a gauge of the current music industry landscape as it is about networking. Were there any major partnerships struck at last year’s event?

I know that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard signed to the Panache Agency who’ve done an great job with them in the USA, and also Trouble With Templeton signed to Bella Union in the UK after Simon Raymonde saw them at BIGSOUND. Prior to that Courtney Barnett played in front of Jen Long from BBC1 whose championing of her music led to label interest and eventually a signing while Flume did a deal with Transgressive after BIGSOUND 2012.

It’s always great when people do deals directly as a result of their attendance at BIGSOUND but I also think that BIGSOUND plays an important role in starting relationships that may come to fruition 6-12-18 months later. Conversations at BIGSOUND might lead to interest at CMJ, The Great Escape, SXSW or Iceland Airwaves, which would lead to deals being done almost 12 months later.

What advice do you have for virgin attendees?

Go to as many panels as possible, attend as many shows as possible, try and find some musical gems that you have never seen before and don’t worry about sleeping.