I have been a long time attendee of South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. I have attended the interactive festival, but have really immersed myself in the music festival year after year.
SXSW interactive over the past few years has become a host of corporate parties and events where every venue in downtown Austin has been rented out to have some sort of a party or another. It is fun to hop from party to party to hear and see what companies are claiming to be the “next big thing” or have a chance to try ”a killer app”.
The music festival still firmly has its roots where it did when it started. It is all about music, from rock to jazz and from ska to punk. You can see amazing free shows to the “you’ve gotta know someone” shows like Prince and Justin Timberlake in 2013 to Lady Gaga this year playing at Stubbs. I was lucky enough to hear the Prince show, standing outside of La Zona Rosa, but was not on the inside.
As you probably know, Polycom has its own roots firmly in music and audio as well. As we moved from having the world’s best speakerphone to the world’s fastest selling video conference devices, we have made sure audio is always better than our nearest competitor. It is no surprise that Polycom is heavily involved in live music performances throughout the world. South by Southwest is no different.
This year, Polycom is proud to partner with KGSR radio in Austin to present their live broadcast from the W Hotel. No wrist-band is needed to see the incredible bands, but a small donation is requested and goes to an amazing charity! You can see the entire list of bands at www.kgsr.com/SXSW.
A very exciting addition this year is Polycom is the equipment sponsor for the music stage at Waterloo Records. Viewers from all over the world will be able to view a live stream of 7 ½ hours of music per day being encoded and captured by the Polycom Capture Station Portable Pro. Check out the line-up of bands at www.waterloorecords.com and get ready to rock your socks off!
If you are going to be at SXSW, stop by Waterloo Records backstage to say hi. I am the guy directing the web stream. If you are not here locally, go to www.waterloorecords.com during our live broadcast and check things out.
We’ll be posting updates during the music festival so stay-tuned!
