SXSW Announces Nile Rodgers As Keynote Speaker For 2017, Adds Over 200 Additional Artists

Nile Rodgers has been announced as a Keynote Speaker for the 2017 of the South By Southwest Music Festival and Conference, along with more than 200 additional artists. Rodgers, a multi-Grammy Award-winning composer, producer, arranger, and guitarist joins previously announced Zane Lowe as a 2017 Music Keynote. Austin, Texas is the destination for industry professionals, influencers and international media who share a passion for collaboration and discovery. SXSW takes place Friday, March 10 – Sunday, March 19, 2017.

Keynote (Music)

SXSW is honored to announce Nile Rodgers as a Keynote Speaker appearing on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 in the Austin Convention Center. Having already established a legacy as a composer, producer, arranger, and guitarist with multiple Grammy Award wins, Rodgers is considered exceptional among music legends. As a cultural icon and music innovator with more than 200 production credits to his name, he transcends all styles of music across generations.  As the co-founder of CHIC, Rodgers pioneered a musical language that sparked the advent of hip-hop with “Good Times,” distinguished CHIC as the “most sampled band in history” (The Guardian, 2011), won CHIC 11 ​Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations, and generated groundbreaking pop hits like “Le Freak”, which was inducted into the 2015 Grammy Hall of Fame. His career-defining productions for David Bowie (Let’s Dance), Madonna (Like A Virgin), Diana Ross (diana), and Sister Sledge (We Are Family), plus his work with artists like Duran Duran, INXS, Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, The B-52s, Bryan Ferry and Michael Jackson, have sold more than 200 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide while his innovative collaborations with Daft Punk, Christina Aguilera, Avicii, Disclosure and Sam Smith place him in the vanguard of contemporary music.

Festival Artists

The SXSW Music Festival hosts an extraordinary mix of new, up-and-coming, international, and legendary artists performing in venues around downtown Austin. A few highlights are:

Aminé, Apache, Avi Buffalo, Cherry Glazerr, Billie Eilish, Greg Graffin, Sven Helbig, Oliver Heldens, Hayley Kiyoko, Liniker e os Caramelows, Walker Lukens, Bridgit Mendler, Tunde Olaniran, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Saint, Noah Slee, Tei Shi, Temples, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, and Whitest Taino Alive.

Here is the full list for this round

424 (San José COSTA RICA)

#YEI (Miami FL)

4×4 (Bogotá COLOMBIA)

Agrupacion Cariño (Mexico City MEXICO)

Federico Albanese (Berlin GERMANY)

ALI AKA MIND (Bogotá COLOMBIA)

Altre di B (Bologna ITALY)

Aminé (Portland OR)

Apache (Cara VENEZUELA)

Aries (Bilbao SPAIN)

Artificial Pleasure (London UK-ENGLAND)

AUTOBAHN (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

Avi Buffalo (Long Beach CA)

Baskery (Stockholm SWEDEN)

Beach Slang (Philadelphia PA)

Jean-Michel Blais (Montreal CANADA)

The Blind Suns (Angers FRANCE)

Betty Bonifassi (Quebec CANADA)

Boulevards (Raleigh NC)

The Britanys (New York NY)

Brodka (Warsaw POLAND)

Caddywhompus (New Orleans LA)

Calliope Musicals (Austin TX)

Charlotte Cardin (Montreal CANADA)

Josh Cashman (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)

Catholic Action (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

The Chamanas (El Paso TX)

Glen Check (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)

Cherry Glazerr (Los Angeles CA)

CHINAH (Copenhagen DENMARK)

Gabriella Cohen (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)

Cold Specks (Toronto CANADA)

Communist Daughter (Minneapolis MN)

COMPLETE (Fort Worth TX)

The Cool Kids (Chicago IL)

Cotton Mather (Austin TX)

Dark Times (Oslo NORWAY)

Dawg Yawp (Cincinnati OH)

Dead Leaf Echo (New York NY)

Death Valley Girls (Los Angeles CA)

DEM YUUT (Minneapolis MN)

Desert Mountain Tribe (London UK-ENGLAND)

Die Heiterkeit (Hamburg GERMANY)

The Dig (Brooklyn NY)

Dirty Lungs (Birmingham AL)

Dizzyride (New York NY)

DJ Yoda (London UK-ENGLAND)

Dream Wife (London UK-ENGLAND)

Dude York (Seattle WA)

Dyan (Los Angeles CA)

Sergio Echenique (Santo Domingo DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

Edison (Denver CO)

Billie Eilish (Highland Park CA)

El Tambor de la Tribu (Guatemala City GUATEMALA)

Noga Erez (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)

ESKA (London UK-ENGLAND)

False Advertising (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

False Witness (New York NY)

The Family Crest (San Francisco CA)

Fickle Friends (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Field Mouse (Philadelphia PA)

The fin. (Tokyo JAPAN)

Flor (Hood River OR)

The Fontaines (Los Angeles CA)

Future Elevators (Birmingham AL)

Gabylonia (Caracas VENEZUELA)

Gang (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

GoGo Penguin (London UK-ENGLAND)

Gona (Caracas VENEZUELA)

Greg Graffin (New York NY)

Greenbeard (Austin TX)

Nick Hakim (Washington DC)

Halfalib (Milan ITALY)

Hanba! (Cracow POLAND)

Aldous Harding (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)

The Heart Collectors (Murwillumbah AUSTRALIA)

HECK (Nottingham UK-ENGLAND)

Hector (Berlin GERMANY)

Sven Helbig (Dresden GERMANY)

Oliver Heldens (Amsterdam NETHERLANDS)

Her’s (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)

HI-LO (Amsterdam NETHERLANDS)

His Clancyness (Bologna ITALY)

Hockey Dad (Wollongong AUSTRALIA)

Ian Sweet (Brooklyn NY)

Indrajit Banerjee (Austin TX)

Jah9 (Trelawny JAMAICA)

Andrew Jansen, LOUD SUN (Minneapolis MN)

Jared & the Mill (Phoenix AZ)

Alice Jemima (Exeter UK-ENGLAND)

Wesley Jensen and The Penny Arcade (Denton TX)

Jim and Sam (Los Angeles CA)

Meilyr Jones (Aberystwyth UK-WALES)

Joywave (Rochester NY)

Yussef Kamaal (London UK-ENGLAND)

Hayley Kiyoko (Los Angeles CA)

Klyne (Eindhoven NETHERLANDS)

Sarathy Korwar (London UK-ENGLAND)

La Habitación Roja (Valencia SPAIN)

Ciaran Lavery (Aghagallon UK-N. IRELAND)

Chad Lawson (Charlotte NC)

Luna Lee (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)

Jennie Lena (Amsterdam NETHERLANDS)

Lewis Del Mar (Rockaway Beach NY)

Lianna (Bogotá COLOMBIA)

Liniker e os Caramelows (São Paulo BRAZIL)

Living Body (Carleton MI)

Lois (Madrid SPAIN)

Los Reyes Vagos (Guatemala City GUATEMALA)

Lovespeake (Oslo NORWAY)

Walker Lukens (Austin TX)

Holly Macve (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Magnolian (Ulaanbaatar MONGOLIA)

Mal Blum & The Blums (Brooklyn NY)

Mansionair (Sydney AUSTRALIA)

Mau Mau Chaplains (Austin TX)

Damien McFly (Padova ITALY)

Menace Beach (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

Bridgit Mendler (Los Angeles CA)

Modern English (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Molochs (Los Angeles CA)

Monareta (Bogotá COLOMBIA)

Moses Boyd Exodus (London UK-ENGLAND)

Mr. Blaky (Mazatlán MEXICO)

Mt. Wolf (London UK-ENGLAND)

Mullally (Norfolk UK-ENGLAND)

Muncie Girls (Exeter UK-ENGLAND)

The Mystery Lights (Brooklyn NY)

Native Dancer (London UK-ENGLAND)

Neon Bunny (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)

New Portals (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)

No Joy (Montreal CANADA)

NoMBe (Heidelberg GERMANY)

Nothing For Breakfast (Florence ITALY)

Novedades Carminha (Santiago De Compostela SPAIN)

Ofeliadorme (Bologna ITALY)

Tunde Olaniran (Flint MI)

Omni (Atlanta GA)

Orkestar Kriminal (Montreal CANADA)

Oum Shatt (Berlin GERMANY)

The Parrots (Madrid SPAIN)

Perro (Murcia SPAIN)

Phoria (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Pixx (Chipstead UK-ENGLAND)

Plantation Band (Austin TX)

Polock (Valencia SPAIN)

PWR BTTM (New York NY)

Quiet Company (Austin TX)

Rainbrother (Copenhagen DENMARK)

Rat Fancy (Los Angeles CA)

Raymundo (Los Angeles CA)

Reigning Days (Torquay UK-ENGLAND)

Residual Kid (Austin TX)

Robocobra Quartet (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)

Roselit Bone (Portland OR)

SadGirl (Los Angeles CA)

Saint (Malmö SWEDEN)

Joel Sarakula (London UK-ENGLAND)

Shedrach Rowery & The Levites (Austin TX)

Shinobi Ninja (Brooklyn NY)

Silvastone (London UK-ENGLAND)

Simian Ghost (Stockholm SWEDEN)

Slaves (UK) (London UK-ENGLAND)

Noah Slee (Berlin NEW ZEALAND)

Slingshot Dakota (Bethlehem PA)

SLØTFACE (Oslo NORWAY)

Small Time Giants (Copenhagen DENMARK)

Caitlyn Smith (Nashville TN)

The Sore Losers (Hasselt BELGIUM)

SORNE (Los Angeles CA)

Special Explosion (Seattle WA)

Stay (Barcelona SPAIN)

STELLA (Bay Area CA)

Sun And The Wolf (Berlin GERMANY)

Sunset (Chicago IL)

Sweet Crude (New Orleans LA)

SX (Kortrijk BELGIUM)

TARMAC (Medellin COLOMBIA)

Tei Shi (Vancouver CANADA)

Tempers (New York NY)

Temples (Kettering UK-ENGLAND)

Ten Bears (Madrid SPAIN)

Tender (London UK-ENGLAND)

Ten Tonnes (Hertford UK-ENGLAND)

TIGER! SHIT! TIGER! TIGER! (Foligno ITALY)

Triangulo de Amor Bizarro (La Coruña SPAIN)

Tribu Baharu (Bogotá COLOMBIA)

Ultimate Painting (London UK-ENGLAND)

United Vibrations (London UK-ENGLAND)

Uyarakq x Peand-eL x Tarrak (Nuuk GREENLAND)

Valley Hush (Detroit MI)

Vargas (Caracas VENEZUELA)

Mariana Vega (Miami FL)

Verdiana Raw (Firenze ITALY)

VÉRITÉ (New York NY)

David Vincent (Georgetown TX)

Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear (Independence MO)

Lewis Watson (Oxford UK-ENGLAND)

Weaves (Toronto CANADA)

Whitest Taino Alive (Santo Domingo DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

Wildwood Kin (Exeter UK-ENGLAND)

Jess Williamson (Austin TX)

Windy City (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)

Wintertime (Orlando FL)

Wood & Wire (Austin TX)

XXX (Seoul SOUTH KOREA)

Yonaka (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Kristeen Young (New York NY)

Yung Beef (Barcelona SPAIN)

The Zephyr Bones (Barcelona SPAIN)