BIGSOUND 2024 Marks 40% Increase In Festival Attendance

BIGSOUND 2024 was another ultra-successful year, with organisers today revealing that attendance at the music festival portion of the event was up by 40% from 2023.

QMusic CEO Kris Stewart said of this year’s event, “It was so meaningful to see everyone from the music industry gather and focus on positives and how, together, we can capitalise on a moment of change and make it an opportunity instead of a challenge.

“It was a hugely successful year, which is incredible given the challenges faced by our industry in recent times. As importantly, it was a really strong year for the number of new collaborations and business outcomes that were initiated at BIGSOUND, and we’ll see the successes of these moving forward.”

In addition to the increase in attendance, BIGSOUND has something else to celebrate with the announcement of the winner of the public-voted Brick Lane People’s Choice Award: Gold Coast-based newcomer Lyric.

Brick Lane Brewing Co’s Managing Director, Paul Bowker, said, “As passionate champions of local music, we're thrilled to reunite with BIGSOUND for the third consecutive year as presenting partner and to bring you the first Brick Lane People's Choice Award.

“This award lets the audience shine a spotlight on their favourite acts, offering well-deserved recognition to an up-and-coming musician. Our heartfelt congratulations to the winner, Lyric, and to all of the artists who picked up votes. In a lineup packed with such incredible talent, every vote speaks volumes.”

Five artists, Bean Magazine, Armlock, Sex Mask, Miles Nautu, and Lucy Sugerman, also took home the $1,000 cash prize with the JBL Industry Prize. Nautu received another $2,000 of professional audio equipment to help progress his career.

This year’s BIGSOUND hosted unforgettable keynote presentations by Milkshake hitmaker Kelis, Tones And I, and Amyl And The Sniffers’ Amy Taylor, among others, as well as the moving Goolwal Goolwal program.

In terms of live music, acts including tiffi, Miiesha, DoloRRes, Playlunch, Armlock, total tommy, Bella Mackenzie, dust, and many others had the BIGSOUND audiences in the palms of their hands.

Among the 1,500+ delegates at this year’s event, organisers confirm the following numbers were at BIGSOUND 2024:

318 Artists
180 Self-Managed Artists
115 Composers
248 Artist Managers
158 Booking Agents
125 Media Representatives
120 Venue Operators
114 Digital Marketers
166 Promoters
107 Record Label Representatives
87 A&R
79 Tour Managers
73 Technicians
67 Producers
56 Distributor Representatives
34 Publishers
27 Lawyers
20 Accountants
14 Sync Agents
33 Students
22 Sound Engineers
37 Graphic Designers
49 Government Representatives
38 Ticket Company Representatives
14 Tourism Operators