Music Press

"...South by Southwest is a wonderful thing for the music and film industries..." Neil Young on New York Times.com, March 2006

"Overall, the SXSW Festival/Convention offers one of the best opportunities to learn about the future of the digital world, make contacts in the independent film world, meet with the alternative label world, and listen to the best music from around the world." Radio & Records.com March 27, 2006

"Twenty years on, South by Southwest Music and Media Conference just keeps getting bigger and, surprisingly, better... [its] much needed proof of the music community's health and vitality." Billboard, April 1, 2006

"Although South by Southwest has evolved over the years to include podcasts, video broadcasts and even text-message updates, the event is built on the idea that the best way to discover new music is face to face." New York Times, March 17, 2006

"We must congratulate SXSW on an event that has grown and grown on its merits, and remains the world's number one music business event for music." Record of the Day, March 23, 2006

"It's a sort of beautiful chaos." LA Alternative, March 24 - 30, 2006

"Inside the Austin Convention Center, legions of record company executives, radio programmers, managers, festival organizers, filmmakers, publicists and journalists ... pondered panel discussions, browsed a rock 'n' roll trade show and buttonholed one another in hallways."The (New Orleans) Times Picayune, March 25, 2006

"All in all, as a musical smorgasbord, SXSW is a singular event." WCBSTV.com March 30, 2006

"At SXSW, everyone's in the biz - and everyone's also a fan." WCBSTV.com March 30, 2006

"...SXSW felt like living inside an iPod shuffle...." The Eye Weekly, March 23, 2006

"Binge-rocking isn't so much encouraged at South by Southwest as it's required: If your ears aren't bleeding profusely by the time the enormous five-day festival concludes on Sunday night, then you aren't doing your job." The Washington Post, March 20, 2006

"But to some extent, the best things about SXSW '06 weren't the big-deal bands, the hidden discoveries or the ultra-secret parties but rather the strange and amazing moments that only a town converted into an all-music, all-the-time mecca could house." Dallas Observer, March 23-29, 2006

"Shakespeare wrote that all the world's a stage. SXSW is a stage for all the world." Dallas Morning News, March 20, 2006

"In a year when SXSW was more massive and unwieldy than ever, you could travel the globe just by stumbling down Sixth Street. This festival, which ran Wednesday to Sunday, should have handed out an atlas in this year's goody bag." Dallas Morning News, March 20, 2006

"The festival is still a place where record label scouts see bands and make deals. But it is also, for many more performers, a hub for operating outside the recording business.... It could be finding a European distributor for a self-released album or the offer of a Midwestern college tour instead." New York Times, March 20, 2006

"Every March, SXSW turns the college town/state capital of Austin into the epicenter of the music world...." VH1.com March 20, 2006

"But it's not just musicians flooding into the city - label bosses, industry yes-men, publicists, writers, party planners and fashion designers flock to Austin as well." VH1.com March 20, 2006

"...SXSW is still the greatest rock combo platter on earth...." VH1.com March 20, 2006

"But in another sense, SXSW provides a useful corrective to the world of MP3 blogs. When those songs get beamed around the internet, it's seductive to think that bands and listeners have eliminated the middleman: music goes straight from the recording studio to your laptop. This conference is a reminder of how many professionals it takes to turn an amateur band into a popular MP3. Here, "behind the scenes" is the scene: the place is packed with publicists... and managers and booking agents and marketing teams and even a few old-fashioned radio D.J.s. This is a big part of what makes SXSW tick: middlemen as far as the eye can see." New York Times, March 17, 2006

During the past two decades, the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference has earned a reputation as the premier showcasing opportunity in America for acts on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. For artists from independent labels, SXSW has leveled the playing field, building critical word-of-mouth that is as valuable as any major-label marketing budget."Billboard, March 18, 2006

"For one week every year, Austin is the epicentre of rock 'n' roll." Montreal Gazette, March 19, 2006

"For its 20th anniversary, SXSW again lived up to its reputation as a summer camp for music heads." Creative Loafing - Atlanta, March 22, 2006

"By the second day, you've stopped fretting about the bands you're missing. By the third day, you've developed museum legs. By the fourth day, you've begun to believe there are bands soundchecking in your hotel room." The Irish Times, March 31, 2006

"It's a multi-national, multi-media blow-out turning the capital of Texas into the international hub of everything cool for a few days in March every year." Texas Music Matters, NPR