Apple Music creative director and Beats 1 head Zane Lowe has today been announced as a keynote speaker for the 2017 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The event takes place from March 10th through March 19th, though it’s unclear when Lowe’s presentation will be (via Billboard).
Throughout the festival, a variety of keynote presentations will be given, focusing largely on music and film. One talk that sounds interesting will come from Spotify’s chief strategy and content officer Stefan Bloom. His talk is entitled, “Does Spotify help more than it hurts?” and will explore the idea that free streaming music tiers like Spotify’s harm the music industry as a whole.
Over 700 sessions will take place during SXSW, with the majority already having been announced.
It’s unclear what Lowe himself will talk about during his keynote address, but personally I’d be interested to hear some details as to what’s in the pipeline for Beats 1, as well as how the first year went in terms of numbers. I recently argued that Beats 1 is due for a major revamp, while Jimmy Iovine teased recently that the Apple Music team is working on the “perfect hybrid” service. On the other hand, news and rumors concerning Beats 1 have been few and far between.
Of course, the biggest trend for SXSW is always the convergence of the technology, music, and film industries, as different people from different sectors gain incredible value by sharing new ideas and new approaches to common challenges.”
We’ll be sure to have coverage of whatever Lowe ends up discussing during his talk at SXSW 2017 as it happens, though.
