SXSW Announces Initial Lineup Featuring Crystal Castles, Son Little + More

SXSW is still several months out, but today (Oct. 20), the annual Austin festival and conference has announced its initial 2016 lineup.

So far, the roster boasts Crystal Castles, Joan of Arc, Into It. Over It., Pure Bathing Culture, Owen, Son Little, Hinds, MC Lars, the Parrots, Micachu and the Shapes, Mr. Muthaf---in eXquire, Yuck and Beverly. Those are only a fraction of the artists included on the lineup and those yet to come. Check out a current list at this location.

Some of the 2016 conference sessions have also been announced. Talib Kweli will lead on a panel on “What It Means to Start a Label in the Digital Age.” Another panel featuring executives from Thirty Tigers, Spotify and M-Theory, plus WIRED’s David Pierce, will discuss “Artist Development and A&R in the Streaming Era.” Other featured sessions will include conversations with Hall and Oates’ John Oates, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, NPR’s Ann Powers, Pitchfork’s Jessica Hopper, Charles Caldas of digital music rights agency Merlin Network and Alex White of the Pandora-owned music analytics firm Next Big Sound. See more right here.

SXSW takes place March 15-20 of next year at venues across Austin.