Overview
What do Euphoria, Yellowjackets, Wednesday, Atlanta, Mr & Mrs Smith, Dark Matter, The Umbrella Academy, The Penguin, Overcompensating and Sirens all have in common, other than being TV shows? Next, what do they also share with Beyoncé's online footprint? Music supervisor Jen Malone is the connection between all of the aforementioned television series, with the four-time Emmy-nominee working on each of them. Then, SXSW Sydney 2025 links Malone with Dr Marcus Collins, Beyoncé's former Digital Strategy Director — because the two have just been announced on the event's Music Festival speaker lineup.
When April was coming to a close, SXSW Sydney started dropping its first music acts for this year's fest. A month later as May winds down, it has now revealed the initial list of folks who'll be getting chatting as part of the conference side of SXSW Sydney 2025's Music Festival. How do you stack TV and streaming hits — and movies, too — with the exact-right songs? Malone will take to the stage to spill the details. How should you approach marketing strategy in the music business, and what can you learn from doing just that for megastars ? That's where marketing professor, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be author and ex-Beyoncé team member Collins will come in.
Both Malone and Collins are on the bill when SXSW Sydney returns for its third year between Monday, October 13–Sunday, October 19, 2025. As it tends to each year, the festival has been unveiling its latest lineup in bits and pieces, after also revealing that there'll be more free programming and an initial look at the overall speaker lineup in recent months.
"SXSW Sydney is about big ideas, bold conversations and unexpected connections. It's a chance to hear directly from the people who open doors — the buyers, curators and deal-makers — and to better understand how to cut through, stay independent or scale globally. Whether you're building a team, exploring how AI can support your creative and business goals, or just looking for inspiration from other creative industries, this is where the conversations start," said SXSW Sydney's Head of Music Claire Collins about the first round of Music Festival speakers.
"We're proud to bring this talent to Sydney, and to connect them with the broader SXSW Sydney community. It's a week packed with fun, discovery, and opportunities to connect, collaborate and imagine what's next for music in our region and around the world."
Malone and Collins will have company from a wide array of other SXSW Sydney Music Festival guests, such as Brian Hobbs, SXSW in Austin's Director of Music Festival Programming; Patrick Daniel from Reeperbahn Festival in Germany; Airing Your Dirty Laundry podcast host Daphne Berry; Alex Berenson, the All Flowers international label group's Senior Director of A&R; and Justin Sweeting, the founder of Hong Kong's Clockenflap Festival.
Also among the names on the program so far: Hallie Anderson, who co-founded Rareform marketing team, Ode strategic agency's Jashima Wadehra, Mardi Caught from marketing and artist services outfit The Annex, music networking platform GigLifePro's Priya Dewan and Pal Norte Festival's Macarena González.
If you missed it, the roster to date of musicians that'll be showing off their talents spans both international and local acts. In the first camp: Jasmine 4.t, Freak Slug and Ristband + Pivots from the UK; Slowwves from Thailand; Japan's Suichu Spica 水中スピカ; New Zealand's Serebii and Tusekah; and Cardinals from Ireland. Flying the flag for Aussie acts to begin with: Jamaica Moana, JJ4K, RICEWINE, Sacred Hearts, Swapmeet and BADASSMUTHA.
In total, this year's fest is due to feature more than 300 music performances. And, that's just the live tunes side of the event. Across its 1600-plus sessions, SXSW Sydney 2025 will also boast over 550 conference and professional development sessions, 90-plus movie screenings and over 150 games.
Nina Franova/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney
Jaimi Joy
Jaimi Joy
SXSW Sydney 2025 runs from Monday, October 13–Sunday, October 19 at various Sydney venues. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for further details.
Top image: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW.