Technology and music have always been hand in hand. Over the years SXSW has hosted two conferences one for Music and one for Interactive. The rise of the digital age has brought many intersections of technology and music. The challenge music faces are ever changing as new platforms emerge for artists to release their music. More then ever technology needs to play a important part of how music is distributed and artists are able to support themselves while focusing on their music.

This year SXSW with host the first ever music hackathon. SXSW is calling this the first annual music hackathon championships! Don’t worry you didn’t any preliminary rounds. Chances are it will be a success as SXSW has hosted a few very successful hackathons over the years. The goal of the hackathon is to create new apps in technology for artists, fans, and industry. The hackathon will take place on March 14th and 15th where teams will have 24 hours to create something new, innovative to impress an array of tech music innovators. The tools the participants will have are their programming skills and the use of api’s by; Tech Open Air Berlin, Beats Music, Choose Digital, Warner Group Music, Gracenote, Rdio, Senzari, The Echo Nest, Spotify & others.

The event will be judged by Ian Rodgers, CEO of Beats Music, Alex Ebert, frontman for Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Jermaine Preyan, rapper of Young Money Ent, and Stephen White, president of Gracenote.

This is a RSVP only event. The Hackathon awards will take place Friday March 14th at 6:00 pm.