SXSW Music Festival - South By Southwest Festival - South By Southwest Music

Lou Reed Keynote Among SXSW Highlights

By Cortney Harding

Groundbreaking composer and Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed will take the stage as this year's South by Southwest keynote speaker. Widely hailed as one of the most talented musicians of his generation, Reed should have plenty to talk about in his address, which will take place March 13.

From his collaborations with Andy Warhol, to his rock opera "Berlin," to his baffling experimental noise epic "Metal Machine Music," Reed has always been a step ahead of popular tastes and the music industry as a whole. Despite having been in the industry for almost 40 years, Reed continues to record; his latest project is an album of meditational music, titled "Hudson River Wind Meditations."

In addition to his speech, the Julian Schnabel-directed concert video "Lou Reed's Berlin" will also screen during the festival.

Reed isn't the only music industry veteran to speak at SXSW this year. On March 13, David Katznelson of Birdman Recording Group will interview Seymour Stein, who got his start in the business as a teenage intern at Billboard. Stein founded Sire Records in 1966, and the label became part of Warner Records in 1977. Among the number of acts Sire signed are Talking Heads, Radio Birdman, the Pretenders, the Replacements, Uncle Tupelo and My Bloody Valentine.

To this day, Stein remains part of Sire, traveling to discover new bands and examining emerging music markets. He predicts that the next wave of the music business will crest in places like China, India and Russia.

Steve Reich also got his start in the '60s, though his path took a less conventional route. Reich entered the music business through the SoHo school of composers, along with Phillip Glass, Terry Riley and Tony Conrad. He has released several experimental albums, including "Come Out to Show Them," "Clapping" and "Four Organs." He has also collaborated with his wife, video artist Beryl Korot, on a number of mixed-media works. Reich will be interviewed by fellow New York avant-garde scene star Thurston Moore.

The touring element of the music industry will also be represented in the interviews. Writer Joe Nick Patoski will interview Louis Messina, who founded concert promotion company TMG, March 14. Despite an inauspicious beginning (at the second concert that Messina promoted, the crowd rioted after Curtis Mayfield's band got stuck on the road and had to cancel), he continued to promote shows throughout the Southwest. After his first company, Pace, was bought out by Clear Channel, Messina resigned and started TMG, mostly promoting country acts.

Ticketmaster president/CEO Sean Moriarty will be interviewed March 14. He plans to discuss the health of the music industry, digital possibilities and the lessons learned from the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus tour.

SXSW will also offer a number of panels this year; some of the panelists confirmed so far include Marc Geiger, senior VP/agent in the contemporary music department at the William Morris Agency; New West Records VP of business affairs David Lessoff; and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates.