2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995

1994

199

3 19

92 1

991

1990

198

9

1988 19

87 1986

The idea for S

XS

W is conceived w

hen friends Ro

land

Sw

enso

n and L

ou

is Jay Meyers approach

The first "South by S

outhwest" festival (and conference) is held in A

ustin, Texas. 150 attendees are expected

More than 1,500 bands apply for the festival, though only about 420 are chosen to play 23 venues during the event's four nights

Jour

nalis

t Sar

ah L

acy'

s w

idel

y pa

nned

key

note

inte

rvie

w w

ith M

ark

Zuck

erbe

rg tu

rns

into

one

of t

he fi

rst T

witt

er "r

iots

"

1,98

7 ba

nds

play

at t

his

year

's fe

stiv

al—

it's

the

curr

ent r

ecor

d

Mor

e th

an a

dec

ade

afte

r SXS

W o

rgan

izer

Lou

is B

lack

cal

led

Lou

Ree

d "d

isre

spec

tful"

for p

layi

ng a

com

petin

g sh

ow in

199

6, R

eed

keyn

otes

A pluc

ky lit

tle m

essa

ging

serv

ice m

akes

a b

ig sp

lash

at S

XSW: T

witter

For the firs

t time, th

e SXSW PanelPicker lets the public help decide what panels are chosen

Interactive keynote speakers include founders from tw

o of the Internet's most disruptive websites: Craig Newmark of C

raigslist and Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia

Fut

ure

Aca

dem

y A

war

d B

est P

ictu

re-w

inne

r "T

he H

urt L

ocke

r" h

as it

s U

.S. p

rem

iere

Louis Black and N

ick Barbaro

, founders of the alt weekly A

ustin Chronicle, about starting a m

usic festival

but more than 700 show

up. According to B

lack, the event went “national alm

ost imm

ediately"

Still overshadowed by New York’s New Music Sem

inar, SXSW gets its first backlash when

local act Ed Hall prints “SXSW SUX” T-shirts. Next year, they play

More than 200 bands from around the country play 15 locations, while the conference itself is based out of the downtown Marriott

Many elements of today's SXSW are not present, but one already is: the closing softball tournament and barbecue

First mention of "SXSW" as the conference's nickname in a major U.S. publication (well done, LA Times)

It seems like SXSW has always had big name sponsors: This year included Pepsi and BMI, although most were still from local print, TV and radio

The number of panels triples, to 60, up from 20 in 1990, and the number of bands rises to 500

Willie Nelson delivers a welcome speech instead of a keynote; but he is upstaged by Michelle Shocked, who shocks the crowd with a controversial speech about race

125 fewer bands play than the year before, but the festival selects larger venues to forestall overcrowding issues; wise decision, because attendance rose to a then-record 3,300

Taking a safer route after Michelle Shocked's controversial address, the keynote speaker is Texas Gov. Ann Richards

SXSW’s first year in the Austin Convention Center, m

oving over from the Hyatt R

egency;

Sorry we missed this panel: mock tria

l imagines Elvis Presley suing infamous manager Col. Tom Parker

Johnny Cash, The M

an in Black

himse

lf, delive

rs the SXSW ke

ynote

A new SXSW conference

track

is added: "M

ultimedia and Film

"

After t

heir

intro

duct

ion,

"Mul

timed

ia a

nd F

ilm" c

onfe

renc

es s

plit

into

sep

arat

e tra

cks,

cre

atin

g th

e th

ree

SXSW c

onfe

renc

es w

e kn

ow to

day

Confe

renc

e co

-foun

der L

ouis

Jay

Mey

ers

mov

es o

n to

lead

oth

er m

usic

fest

ivals

in L

ouisi

ana,

Am

ster

dam

... a

nd A

ustin

too

but "

ram

blin

g" s

peec

h en

cour

agin

g yo

uths

to g

et p

oliti

cally

eng

aged

This

is th

e fir

st y

ear f

or S

XS

W's

ann

ual J

apan

Nite

, fea

turin

g th

e is

land

nat

ion'

s be

st p

op p

unk

New

spap

er c

ritic

s pa

n fo

rmer

Nirv

ana

bass

ist a

nd k

eyno

te s

peak

er K

rist

Nov

osel

ic's

"wel

l-mea

ning

"

whe

re h

e pl

ays

30 s

ynch

roni

zed

car

ster

eos

in a

par

king

gar

age

at S

even

th a

nd B

razo

s

The

SX

SW

Inte

ract

ive

Web

Aw

ard

s is

cre

ated

to h

onor

the

best

new

web

site

s an

d in

nova

tors

sho

wca

sed

at th

e fe

stiv

al

Ove

r 2,

000

atte

nd o

ne o

f Fla

min

g L

ips

fron

tman

Way

ne

Coy

ne'

s "P

arki

ng L

ot E

xper

imen

ts,” F

ollowing a set at S

teamboat, constables serve local band B

reedlove with a sum

mons

for breach of contract. At least they w

aited until after the show

Tom W

aits' promoter is severely beaten by bouncers at La Z

ona Rosa; W

aits vows never to play in Texas again (but later, he does)

SX

SW

Multim

edia is renamed S

XS

W Interactive

Internet rock star Lawrence Lessig speaks at the Interactive festival, w

hile actual rock star Steve Earle keynotes the Music festival

So many Sw

edish bands play at SXSW they call them

selves the "new Viking invasion"

Earning its reputation for screening films gone wild, SXSW Film screens Iñárritu directed "hyperlink cinema" epic "Am

ores Perros" and cocaine saga "Blow" starring Johnny Depp

Pete Yorn refuses to leave the La Zona Rosa stage after his allotted time, even after the houselights go up; the band following him

doesn't get onstage until 2 am

An interview with Courtney Love - billed as "one on none" - draws the biggest crowd ever for a non-keynote

Alexandria Pelosi's documentary about her time covering Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the 2000 campaign trail, "Journeys with George," debuts at the festival

Just days before the invasion of Iraq, SXSW competes with anti-war protesters (as many as 7,000 show up) outside the State Capitol a few blocks away

SXSW Music keynoter Daniel Lanois isn’t a household name, but he should be: he produced U2’s “The Joshua Tree,” Peter Gabriel’s “So” and Bob Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind”

Austin police arrest two members of the Latin rock band Ozomatli when a conga line on Sixth Street leads to a "skirmish"

Little Richard is interviewed at the Music keynote, where he declared he was no longer interested in recording music; added Richard: "I'm alive tonight!"

Sound editor Eric Masunaga coins the term "mumblecore" during SXSW Film to define the American independent film movement popular in the early 2000s

Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant delivers the Music keynote speech and is reunited with "ubergoupie" Pamela Des Barres after 15 years apart

Music

and I

ntera

ctive

collid

e as o

netim

e Sex

Pist

ol Stev

e Jones

inter

views T

om "f

rom

MyS

pace"

Ander

son

fou

rsq

uar

e w

ins

the

roun

d, b

ut G

owal

la s

how

s he

art

Bill

Mu

rray

bar

tend

s at

Sha

ngri

La o

n E

ast S

ixth

Str

eet,

beca

use

he c

an

Thr

ee y

ears

afte

r Tw

itter

’s S

XS

W d

ebut

, geo

loca

tion

has

its tu

rn “

in th

e rin

g”

14,251INTERACTIVE REGISTRANTS

13,020MUSIC REGISTRANTS

9,500FILM REGISTRANTS

GROWTH OFREGISTRANTS

Sources:

SXSW | Austin Chronicle | New York Times | Austin American-Statesman | Los Angeles Times | Billboard | TIME

Austin360.com | indieWIRE | Rolling Stone | CNET | The Guardian | Reuters | NBC | Oklahoma Today | The Daily Texan

SXSW has risen from humble beginnings to become the world’s foremost music, film and technology festival. This annual gathering of the best and brightest stars has made Austin, Texas, the place to be every March. People flock from all over the world to socialize with industry leaders, trendsetters and rising artists. With 25 years of illustrious history behind it, SXSW continues to gather momentum as it speeds along the cutting edge. All aboard!

THE HISTORY OF SXSWAn Eloqua / JESS3 partnership