Nearly every week, another music conference springs up from nowhere and tries to convince us that the crop of artist playing in a disused airfield will be the acts of the future.
For the unknown bands and singers playing at these gatherings, it's pretty much the first chance they?ll get to have people hear their music properly, and not in a horribly compressed MP3 shoved on some corner of the internet.
Don't think of them as festivals so to speak, more a chance for A&R people and record label executives to see what talent is actually out there. One of the most diverse conferences on music is held in Austin, Texas. Gone are the days when the state was simply known for oil, executions and idiotic politicians. To honour the conference known as SXSW, here a band who hail right from the city itself, Love Inks.