It’s one of the biggest conferences in the world – and this year German firms are descending en masse on Austin for South By Southwest. The Berlin Music Commission is going to Texas alongside more than 30 key players from the German scene to promote the country’s rapidly expanding music and tech spaces.
The BMC are organising what they’re calling Berlin Goes SXSW to represent the German capital’s music businesses, while many Berlin tech companies will also be at the annual event.
Some of the highlights of Berlin Goes SXSW will include wahwah.fm and Aupeo!. The former is using SXSW to present its newly-launch app to the American market. Ari Stein, wahwah.fm COO, told Silicon Allee that Berlin is a key city for the developing tech world, and that the company would be using SXSW as a platform to broaden its overseas appeal and network with American brands and record labels.
And wahwah.fm will also be involved in a panel moderated by LA radio station KCRW called Music Discovery: Man vs Machine, discussing the future of technology versus human communication within the music industry.
Aupeo! will also be a part of the Berlin delegation, showcasing their recently launched Personal Car Radio which brings their world of music straight to the dashboard of your car.
It’s not just music, either – other German startups looking to crack the US at SXSW include childcare service Kinderfee.de, 3D video analysis company Visapix and digital agency Exozet. They’ll find plenty to do, as well, with a Meet the Germans event next Tuesday featuring all 73 German exhibitors gathering as part of the SXSW Block Party and a Wunderbar lunch next Thursday hosted by Initiative Musik and presented by the Berlin Music Week.
Finally, there will be a chance to be On Boat With Germans on March 16 – which pretty does exactly what it says on the tin.
So now it’s time for SXSW to say Jetzt geht’s los!