SXSW Festival Kicks Off Stateside

The South By Southwest music and media conference kicks off today (March 18th -22nd) in Austin, Texas, and is so big it's even got its own social networking site.

Featuring key industry conferences by day and gigs by more than 1900 acts by night, the festival, which was launched back in 1987 by SXSW Inc - a private Austin-based company - has grown from 700 registrants to nearly 12,000. 

It is now an essential part of the music industry calendar, and is so important for making and breaking business that it's even got its own official social networking and scheduling tool for attendees of the conference/festival. 

Over the next four days music fanatics, executives and musicians will gather for the big industry schmooze. By day, the Austin Convention Center comes alive with conference registrants doing business in the Trade Show and taking part in some 70 panel discussions featuring hundreds of speakers of international stature. There's also demo listening sessions, the SXSW mentor program and 'quickies' sessions. 

But the real attraction is the music. By night, over 1900 acts from all around the world will perform over 88 stages throughout downtown Austin. Tricky, White Lies, Gomez, Bedoin Soundclash, New York Dolls, The Airborne Toxic Event, Pendulum (pictured), Ben Harper, Freeland, Graham Coxon, Glasvegas, Kissy Sell Out, Echo & The Bunnymen, Juliette Lewis, 2020 Soundsystem, Ulrich Schnauss, Grampall Jookabox and The Von Bondies are just some of the acts set to perform.

Key topics for the daytime activities will include Miles Davis and his landmark album, 'Kind Of Blue', which reaches its 50th anniversary this year and is still the biggest-selling jazz album of all time. The lucky insiders will also gain sneaky peeks at the forthcoming Woodstock: 3 Days Of Peace & Music film and Neil Young archives. 

The satirical synth-savvy Devo founders Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh should have some interesting anecdotes on music past and present. There's an interview with The Hold Steady producer John Agnello and band members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler. And Texas Tornado star Doug Sahm, considered one of the most important figures in Tex-Mex music, will also feature heavily, with his 1969 album 'Mendocino' due to be dissected on a panel led by Bill Bentley.

For further information on panel topics, descriptions and speakers click here You can follow all the action via the YouTube SXSW Channel here or on DIECTTV's The 101 Network with live television airings.

As it's grown, the SXSW company has added film and interactive components to create a week-long creative bonanza, which began this year on March 13th. There's also a North By Northeast (NXNE) festival now too, held in Toronto, Canada.