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As a vibrant, exciting and highly informative music conference that brings together a vast number of figures in the local and international music industry, Bigsound is an event well worth being a part of. Held at a range of venues and bars in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley from last Wednesday to Friday, the Bigsound program was bursting with an array of interesting seminars and live performances, presenting attendees with some difficult decisions when it came to planning our schedules.
There were a number of notable strengths to Bigsound’s programme; it addressed a wide range of issues and ideas within the industry, we were treated to an impressive line-up of speakers, and the event as a whole involved a mixed selection of players in the industry. Including sound engineers, artist managers, label representatives, festival programmers and more, Bigsound succeeded in highlighting the fact that the music industry runs on a community of professions. Furthermore, the event became a hub for the many players in the industry to mingle, share ideas and no doubt initiate new collaborations, making for a truly valuable three days.
Looking back at the highlights of Bigsound, the opening keynote Q&A with Steve Earle stands as a sure favourite. As a highly accomplished artist, it was fascinating to hear Earle describe his early years spent as a struggling artist, to eventually be met with the success of his 1986 record Guitar Town. Unapologetically honest and candid about his views on music writing, his family, politics, earning a living and his musical heroes (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Waits, The Pogues), Earle held his audiences’ total attention from start to finish. From claiming himself to be “sort of a communist”, to describing his time in a “cult” that revolved around legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt, the Q&A was nothing short of captivating.
Other highlights of the day included the seminars “Live Music Globally - The Ever Changing Landscape”, “Getting Back To Our Roots”, and “Making Records That Matter”. Offering a stellar line of local and international festival big shots including Martin Elbourne (The Great Escape / Glastonbury Festival), Richard Moffat (The Falls Music & Arts Festival and more) and David Jimenez-Zumalacarregui (Heart Of Gold/Primavera), we were treated to some valuable insights. As Bluesfest Director/owner Peter Noble articulated, too many music festivals have emerged, rendering ticket sales all the more challenging. From a European perspective, Elbourne pointed out that in such circumstances it is only the smaller, niche events that are continuing to achieve great success. Considering this, it will be interesting to watch the evolution of established and emerging festivals in Australia over the next few years.
While this panel had a great deal to offer from a business perspective, the following panels that I attended on the Tuesday could be appreciated by any music fan. When Triple J host Sarah Howells asked her panel to define Roots music for “Getting Back To Our Roots”, it was fascinating to realise just how subjective and complex such a definition may be. However, themes of story-telling lyrics, live performance and strong connection to environment stood out as significant aspects of the genre. Similarly, defining the exact qualities of a great record was far from simple for the panel “Making Records That Matter”. Putting together engineers, producers, an A&R rep and artists including Jeff Martin from The Tea Party, the panel became most interesting when discussing the blurred line that emerges when differentiating between music writers and the advice given by producers.
On the Thursday, the stand-out seminars would have to be “Country Is Not A Dirty Word” and “State of Independence”. For the discussion on country music, it was intriguing to hear about the origins of country music’s negative reputation. From looking at its standing on radio, to the public perception of Nashville and Tamworth, there was a visible frustration amongst panellists about their ongoing struggle to communicate the genuine beauty of country music. Following this, the “State of Independence” panel brought together major independent label representatives to talk about the ongoing challenges of making a profit when faced with the competition of online streaming. Beyond this, it was heart-warming to see the absolute passion that each label representative demonstrated for not only the music that they release, but also in being able to create their own musical community.
Also worth a mention was the lunch-time live showcase for the emerging acts Lime Cordiale, Sheppard and Streamer Bendy. Each act performed with a wonderful, infectious energy as their presented their own take on pop, and it will certainly be worth watching where each of these bands go from here.
After two days of full schedules crammed in with talks and a plethora of music that powered through into the early hours of the morning, Friday offered a far more relaxed time-table. After a delicious brunch that kindly took our hangovers into consideration (bloody marys included), we were presented with Q&A’s with the likes of Clare Bowditch, David Bridie, Ian Haug (Powderfinger) and Ben Lee. The artists proved themselves to be warm, hard-working creatives with pasts consisting of both successes and struggles. Discussing a variety of challenges when striving to forge a career in music including motherhood, politics, pressure to top the charts, and unsuccessful early albums, it became clear that these artists have a wealth of experience well worth sharing.
No doubt at times overwhelming for its sheer quantity and quality of panels and live acts, Bigsound serves as an invaluable experience for anyone who is in any way invested in the music industry. Having walked away with an abundance of sound advice and an extensive list of new favourite bands, I am already looking forward to seeing what the event has to offer next time around.