Garth Brooks Announced as SXSW 2017 Keynote Speaker
The organizers of South By Southwest are gearing up for this year's conference and interactive, film, music and comedy festivals, scheduled to run March 10-19 in Austin, Texas, and on Thursday (March 2), they announced a new batch of keynote and featured speakers. Among those newly added speakers is country superstar Garth Brooks.
Brooks and Amazon Music Vice President Steve Boom, both major music influencers, will hold a one-hour music keynote conversation on March 17 at 2PM. In late 2016, Brooks partnered with Amazon Music for an exclusive streaming deal through Amazon Music Unlimited; Brooks also made his music catalog available for purchase and digital download on Amazon Music exclusively.
Other SXSW 2017 keynote speakers -- leaders in the tech, film, music, television, business and journalism fields -- include Yasmin Green, Lee Daniels, Jennifer Doudna, Gareth Edwards, Adam Grant, Zane Lowe, Cory Richards, Nile Rodgers, Jessica Shortall and Jill Soloway. This year's featured speakers, too, come from a wide range of occupations: Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings, actor Nick Offerman, Game of Thrones actresses Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, singer-songwriter Mike Posner, comedian Fred Armisen and more.
Brooks is the first artist in history to receive seven diamond awards for his record sales. The five-time CMA Entertainer of the Year has sold more than 138 million albums and is a member of the International Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and, most recently, the Musicians Hall of Fame. Brooks us currently out on the road on his World Tour, which began in September of 2014.
In late February, Brooks spoke at the 2017 Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in Nashville. His speech for that event was titled "Inside Studio G" and gave "an intimate, behind-the-scenes look into the business and life of the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year."
For more information on SXSW 2017, visit the festival's official site.
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