Once again, Austin will be at the center of an eclectic scene as the South by SouthWest Conference (SXSW) Interactive Festival opens at the second week of March. This annual event showcases the best in music, film and technology. Unlike other conferences, SXSW combines its geeky affair with entertainment. In fact, music is a huge part of the program as musicians and artists fill the arena each time. This year’s going to be just as attention-grabbing.

Where The Music Comes From

The growing fanaticism for music, especially at SXSW, goes to show that amidst economic and political trials and tribulations, people from all over the world are able to keep it music and fun-loving side. But have you ever wondered where all these bands and artists come from? This infographic has the answer.

If you look at SXSW’s participating bands at the continent level, the most number of bands come from Northern America with the United States (as the host country) contributing 237 bands—more than three times its runner up, the United Kingdom with 68. Canada’s flag is waving at the third spot with 43 bands. However, Europe wins the most number of countries participating in SXSW, with about 20. The lone trendsetter in Asia is Japan with 5 bands. Others like Indonesia, Israel and Philippines are within the mediocre range.

Digging further in the United States region, top three states by number of bands are Texas (home of SXSW) with 51, The Big Apple having 48 and 45 for California.

Interactive Industry

This year’s SXSW will revolve around the interactive industry within various global social platforms. In a recent blog, E-Business Manager at Johnson Health Tech, Chad DeVoss gave an insightful statement on the evolution of the interactive industry and what is there to look forward to:

I think the interactive industry has reached a point where the tools and platforms are becoming more mature, and we’re going to see a trend toward focused applications. Pinterest and Instagram are not trying to do everything, just do a few things well. I think the over-arching theme we will experience at SXSW 2012 is “More and Specific”. Additionally, I think we’ll begin to see a B2B renaissance. The sex appeal and lure of fast money in B2C (especially in social) is wearing. This does not include mobile, which I believe still has a lot of room.

SXSW 2011 Lookback

The year 2011 marked the 25^th anniversary of SXSW and was attended by nearly 200,000 participants. This affair was made more interesting with the fleet of experts, geeks and fun-loving people whose passion for music, flicks and business lit up every corner of Austin.  Aside from the entertainment showdown, an unexpected face-off happened between Google and Bing at SXSW 2011. At the middle of the search engine tug-of-war was content, content, content.

The rise of social media was also a big hit in the last year’s SXSW party. Social curation was given a special attention. Other hot tech, including mobile and gamification, didn’t leave empty-handed, getting their own fair share of the limelight as location-based services surfaced in several keynotes and discussions. A year after, interactive will be at the core of it all. If the anticipation is already killing you, here’s what you can expect at SXSW 2012.

What To Expect at SXSW 2012

A conference such as SXSW serves as an avenue for the biggies of the industry. While this is true, Indie artists and technology startups are being given a special spot at this event. With an industry starving for fresh ideas, SXSW Interactive will be a congregation of all sorts of new startups and ideas. Kristen Nicole of SiliconANGLE.com wrote how market neophytes will be given a big opportunity at this forum, one of which is uberlife, an iPhone app that makes location-based hangouts available in offline settings with your online networks.  MAXON, on the other hand, will boast their latest in 3D creative solutions.