Spotify House has revealed its full line-up of sessions and showcases as it takes over Sydney’s Lansdowne Hotel from 18 to 21 October for SXSW Sydney.
The first session demonstrating the APAC focus is A&R Spotlight with Eva Trifonas, 88rising. The exclusive fireside chat session will kick off Spotify House’s programming on the morning of Wednesday, October 18, and feature 88rising’s VP of A&R Eva Trifonas speaking to Kossy Ng, head of music SEA at Spotify.
Following the chat with Trifonas, the previously announced In Conversation with Sulinna Ong (Spotify’s global head of editorial) session will take place, and that night, a K-night showcase will take place with performances from So!YoON!, JUNNY and Sam Kim.
Kicking off the next day, Thursday, 19 October, is the Spotify for Artists Masterclass: Reaching a Global Audience. This masterclass will feature Michael Chase, director of MGM, and Spotify’s head of Indies, and commercial partnerships, Jen Masset, both of whom will detail best practices and present case study examples to ensure artists can build an audience and turn listeners into lifelong fans, with the suite of promotional tools and features on offer from Spotify.
Spotify House will then move to RADAR Across Borders. Andrew Klippel (Artist & Label Manager, Ourness Label) and Mardi Caught (The Annex) will showcase the power of Spotify’s RADAR program as a vehicle to protect, nurture and develop local talent whilst reaching a global audience, in a discussion with Hannah Beeching (lead, Global Music Programs, RADAR).
The RADAR Showcase that night will spotlight the program’s most recent recruits: Vv Pete, Blusher and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers.
Day three, Friday, 20 October, kicks off with In Conversation with Bel Aztiria, the Lead of Global Music Programs, Social and Equity. Aztiria will sit down with Esther Shewry (AUNZ ALP EQUAL Lead) to shine a light on the mission and goals of the EQUAL program, and what Spotify is doing to foster equity for women in audio globally.
The next session titled, Women At Full Volume will feature Alethea Beetson (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program Lead, Spotify AU), Cat Strat (Artist, Cat & Calmell) and Sarah Sim (Artist & Label Partnerships Lead, Spotify SEA), with award-winning music journalist Sosefina Fuamoli acting as moderator.
The wide-ranging discussion will explore what equity actually means via various cultural lenses, as well as offering advice to women in the music industry who may be disheartened or disillusioned.
To round out the third day of programming, on Friday, 20 October Spotify House will spotlight its EQUAL program with local artists Jem Cassar-Daley, Charley and Spotify Australia’s first ever EQUAL artist Tkay Maidza, performing alongside Thai rapper MILLI.
On the final day, Saturday 21 October, ‘X’, (AKA Spotify DJ/ Xavier Jernigan) will have a one-on-one chat with journalist, writer and cultural force Benjamin Law, followed by the Hallyu (Korean wave) session featuring Jungjoo Park, head of music at Spotify Korea with Live Nation Australasia’s Wenona Lok and Virgin Music’s Claire Tate.
To cap off four days of spotlighting APAC music, talent and ideas and bringing the best of music and culture from across Asia Pacific to SXSW Sydney, Spotify House will host its Hip Hop Showcase. From Korea to New Zealand and Australia, it will feature Huh, lilbubblegum and 1300.
Spotify House is only open to guest list and SXSW Sydney badge holders.