Apple is putting on a show on SXSW this year, the company just announced via press release. It’ll take place over five days between March 11 and March 15, at the Moody Theater where PBS’ Austin City Limits is shot, and will have a lineup that includes Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull, Keith Urban, ZEDD and others yet to be announced.
Like the annual, month-long iTunes Festival in London, this event and its performances will be made available free on both an app for iOS devices and the Apple TV, as well as via an on-demand live stream. Apple has held the iTunes Festival in London every September since 2007, where over 400 artists have performed to over 430,000 fans in person, as well as to many tens of million via the various streaming options.
The Festival is a chance for Apple to promote its role as the primary source of digital music, and to highlight key artists and essentially demonstrate how much of a force it is in the entertainment industry. U.S. dates for the first time mark a key expansion of this strategy, and the event should mesh well with the megashow vibe that SXSW has managed to accrue over the years.