Splaying out from its base at the Judith Wright Centre, the biggest music conference in the southern hemisphere will spread to more than 20 venues showcasing bands on the cusp of glory to both industry insiders and local live gig afficiandos taking advantage of the spectacle.

Kate Miller-Heidke is a keynote speaker, along with well known voices such as Christine Anu, and punk legend Georgia Maq talking about her experiences as a woman in Australian rock and an outspoken advocate for gender rights.

QMusic CEO and BIGSOUND producer Kris Stewart said it’s a huge week, with industry insiders from all around the world converging on Fortitude Valley.

“We genuinely get in all music industry heads from every state of Australia,” Stewart said.

“And in many ways it’s a global music industry event that we are just fortunate that it lives in Brisbane, that it happens here.

“Just being in the Valley when BIGSOUND is on – there is nothing like it – all of the traders here know that BIGSOUND is bigger than Christmas for the number of people that are just in the Valley enjoying it.

“So if nothing else, just come and walk around in the evening. Just the joyful chaos is something to really experience.”

He said industry insiders come to BIGSOUND for much more than the hope of discovering the next big thing.

“There’s certainly the talent discovery bit. Pretty much every significant Australian band from the last 20 years has had their BIGSOUND moment,” he said.

“There’s a countless number of bands that have come through and have experienced something at BIGSOUND before then going on and breaking globally.

“But equally, it’s so rare to get all of your peers together at the same time. It’s a real business focus. People really come here to build relationships that they then leverage to grow the music industry year round. And I think people sort of lose sight sometimes of how big the music industry is.

“You’re talking about 11 to 12 billion dollars or larger industry here in Australia.

“So it actually is of extraordinary scale and from Australia what people are doing for composing for film or licensing to games, there’s so many things that the music industry connects to and a lot of that is what happens at BIGSOUND.”

He says the diversity of venues in the Valley are what makes the event possible.

“Just how extraordinary Fortitude Valley is as a destination – this year we have 150 bands that we are showcasing, there’s 300 odd performances that we’re doing over 20 stages,” he said.

“That’s an extraordinary amount of infrastructure that you need. And Fortitude Valley is one of the few places in the world where you could find that all within two or three minutes walk.

“It really means you can do something of this scale with thousands of people coming in midweek into Fortitude Valley for it. You’ve got scale that you can do with an event like this here, which would be almost impossible anywhere else.”

He said picking the highlights of BIGSOUND is a bit like choosing your favourite children.

“You never quite know who the bands are that are going to take off,” he said.

“Every time at a BIGSOUND, you’ll suddenly get a text to say, oh, it’s really going off here, get in straight away. And suddenly people are rushing down to hear the last three or four songs. Everything is so close to one another people are constantly moving and seeing two songs here and four songs there and rushing to the next thing.

“Linkin Park is here doing a keynote this year, talking about being one of the most successful bands in the world in the 2010s, how that got built and what that looks like now.

“This is for our music industry what Cannes is to France, if you can bring every decision maker into the same place, it benefits you not just for those four days. It benefits you year round because we are constantly showcasing what’s great about Queensland and our music industry to the rest of the nation and the rest of the world.”

He urged live music lovers to join in the fun and come along.

“The best thing the public can do is to get a wristband to attend everything in the showcase, which is very open to the public,” he said.

“If you are getting a day pass and just seeing one night, that’s a really great and easy way to come and see an extraordinary amount of music.”

The First Nations Goolwal Goolwal program is embedded throughout BIGSOUND – from keynotes and panels to showcase artists and pop-up events. Events will take place at Yutta Yutta-Ba (House of First People) in Queens on Brunswick Street, California Lane, Judith Wright Arts Centre and across all showcase venues to facilitate spaces for First Nations music, dialogues, community and connection across the event.

Curated by Goolwal Goolwal Cultural Lead Dan Rennie and BIGSOUND First Nations Music Officer and blues artist Sue Ray, and guided by Elder In Residence Uncle Kev Starkey, the program weaves a thought-provoking and essential Indigenous-led program of discussions, forums, networking events and of course music.

Sue Ray said she’s excited by the diversity on offer.

“It’s actually the largest in the Southern Hemisphere this music conference. It’s quite wild. We have everyone from TikTok to Spotify to Apple Music and iTunes and every music manager and artist,” Ray said.

“The Goolwal Goolwal programme is really exciting. It’s basically First Nations led events that are weaved throughout the entire schedule of Bigsound. So while the conference is going on, there’ll also be First Nations events through the Goolwal Goolwal programme and also in the Yatta Yatta-ba section. So what that is is a section that I’ll be hanging out at every day and you can come and hang out with me.

“And whether you have an artist or a Delegate pass, it’s actually open to the public – we really want people to have access to the amazing breadth of First Nations artists that we’re going to be having at BIGSOUND.

“It’s also about elevating the voices and the profiles of our First Nations artists and industry workers that we have in Australia. There’s so many incredibly talented people in our industry and it’s about putting them forward as well.”