 SYDNEY, Australia - Out of a record 50 Australian & New Zealand music artists invited last month to showcase at the 20th annual South by Southwest Music Festival & Conferences from March 15-19 in Austin Texas, 30 Australian and 10 New Zealand acts have now confirmed their appearances at the world's largest and most prestigious music event. It's an eightfold increase in artists performing over 2002's SxSW and the registrations are also eight times 2002. The 40 artists will be joined by over 200 music industry professionals, operating from government sponsored stands in a combined three day trade show and five day conference filling the daytime hours. But at night, they'll be competing with over 1200 other bands from around the world who will be showcasing for five nights in 50 venues trying to capture the eyes and ears of over 1000 tastemaker media attendees and thousands of talent scouts from labels, booking agents, management companies and publishers. The breakdown as of January 9 is 14 VIC, 9 NSW, 3 WA, 2 QLD, 2 SA and 10 NZ. There are still a few bands that have been invited who have not yet confirmed, and of course the ones that have confirmed are always subject to change due to changes in recording, touring or promotional commitments. The artists confirmed by their labels, agents, managers or the artists themselves are:
Airbourne (Melbourne)
The Avalanches (Melbourne)
Avotor (Auckland NZ)
The Bats (Christchurch NZ)
The Brunettes (Auckland NZ)
Bluebottle Kiss (Sydney)
Coco Solid (Auckland NZ)
Cut Copy (Melbourne)
Dappled Cities Fly (Sydney)
Decoder Ring (Sydney)
Die! Die! Die! (Auckland NZ)
End Of Fashion (Perth)
Faker (Sydney)
The Fanatics (Auckland NZ)
The Flairz (Fremantle)
Flip Grater (Christchurch NZ)
Function (Melbourne)
The Gear (Melbourne)
Gestalt Switch (Dunedin NZ)
The Grates (Brisbane)
Gyroscope (Perth)
Grey Daturas (Melbourne)
Missy Higgins (Melbourne)
Kisschasy (Melbourne)
Chris Knox and The Nothing (Auckland NZ)
The Living End (Chelsea)
Love of Diagrams (Melbourne)
Lovetones (Sydney)
Panda Band (Perth)
Ryan McPhun and The Ruby Suns (Auckland NZ)
The Mess Hall (Sydney)
The Morning After Girls (Sydney)
New Buffalo (Melbourne)
The Presets (Melbourne)
Xavier Rudd (Torquay)
Shifter (Brisbane)
Sia (Adelaide)
Something for Kate (Melbourne)
Wolf And Cub (Adelaide)
Wolfmother (Sydney)
Youth Group (Melbourne)
| 
