BRISBANE, Australia — BIGSOUND 2025 is now in the rearview, next year’s edition can be marked on the calendar.
Announced today (Sept. 10), the next BIGSOUND is locked in for Sept. 1-4, 2026 — the first week of the southern spring.
Produced by QMusic and presented in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, BIGSOUND is said to be the Southern Hemisphere’s largest specialist music industry gathering, and is entering its 25th year.
The dust has barely settled on BIGSOUND 2025, which welcomed more than 4,200 festival goers, including upwards of 1,700 official delegates, 130 performers, and at least 10,000 guests who strolled in for the free all-ages stages in the Brunswick Street Mall and Goolwal Garden (Sound Garden).
Speakers at the Sept. 2-5 conference included Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, veteran British music executive Darcus Beese, and homegrown artists BRIGGS, Mallrat and Tash Sultana. Showcasing artists included local indie artist Hatchie, electronic act Mansionair, and veteran pop-rock act Kisschasy.
Panel discussions included the “industry leaders” session, First Word: One Brilliant Thing, which explored the domestic industries big issues, and grand opportunities.
Dan Rosen, President of Warner Music Group Australasia, spoke on that panel, and urged the industry to pursue a top 5 ranking, matching the Australian Olympic team’s lofty achievements last year in Paris.
In the opening panel, he remarks, “I shared my perspective on Australia’s music export story. Australia is already punching above its weight at eighth globally — and with our artistic talent, infrastructure, and industry focus, we can position ourselves to break into the top five within the next few years. When Australian artists are adequately backed and strategically developed, the industry positions them for global impact and long-term success.”
Jaddan Comerford, UNIFIED Music Group founder & CEO, left the session on a high note.
“At the beginning of this year, I wrote about my themes for 2025. So I’ll leave these with you to reflect on: build community, celebrate music and stay positive. And I think that’s what we need to do,” he remarked. “We need to come together as an industry. We need to acknowledge the challenges, but we need to be positive. We need to support each other. And it’s awesome to feel so much positively from this panel, it’s so easy to fall into the negativity of the world. The music is awesome, Australian music is awesome, our industry is awesome. And yeah, let’s do this.”