Xavier Rudd Drops Out Of BIGSOUND, Speaker Program Announced

It's a day of mixed news for those of us heading along to this year's BIGSOUND music conference and BIGSOUND Live showcase series as developments and last minute changes

The program for this year's conference has been unveiled today and once again it looks like we're in for a thought provoking and fascinating couple of days in beautiful Brisbane.

Check the whole shebang out here!

A few highlights include:

OPENING KEYNOTE: Q&A WITH BILLY BRAGG (Wednesday: 10.15AM – 11.15AM JWCOCA Performance Space)

He's always been a man who does things his own way and he's been very successful while being relatively uncompromising. Billy Bragg's view of the music industry will be fascinating for young and old.

FESTIVALS (HYPOTHETICALS) (Wednesday: 2.00PM – 3.00PM JWCOCA Performance Space)

Hypothetical situations are posed to a team of festival experts and they will tell us how these issues must be solved. You won't get a better insight into the running of a music festival than this.

ARTISTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STAGE (Thursday: 11.15AM – 12.15PM JWCOCA Performance Space)

Members of Jet, You Am I, The Middle East and more discuss how they came to be on the business side of the music industry. Where does art meet commerce?

POP IS NOT A DIRTY WORD (Thursday: 3.30PM – 4.30PM, JWCOCA Expressions Dance Space)

It can be hard to know where the ever-changing pop music landscape is going to go next, so this discussion between the likes of Michael Chugg and representatives from Nova and Mercury Records could be very illuminating indeed.

KEYNOTE AND ARTIST Q&A/PERFORMANCE: GURRUMUL (Friday: 2.30PM – 3.30PM, JWCOCA Performance Space)

Here is a rare chance to hear the story of one of our most unique and celebrated musical talents and the men who have supported his career for so long. Gurrumul's story is one that will no doubt inspire many.

On the BIGSOUND Live side of things, there have been some pretty substantial changes to the program. Sadly Xavier Rudd has pulled out of the showcase series, as has Diviney (as we announced a while back), Two Cartoons and Electric Horse. Thankfully they have all been replaced, however, with a few pretty great names joining the bill at the last minute.

There'll be a lot of people very excited about the addition of Busby Marou to this year's bill, while Nat Dunn, Bad//Dreems and Aerials are also going to be getting amongst it.

BIGSOUND happens from Wednesday 11 September through to Friday 13, with the new Music+Design conference taking place on Tuesday 10.

First lineup announcement
First Music+Design announcement
Second Music+Design announcement
Final lineup announcement
Final Music+Design announcement