UKTI music industry specialist Phil Patterson rounds up his South by Southwest experience for Music Week.

Read his column below, or go to the Music Week website for the full article…

’South By South West is a fantastic opportunity to show off the best British talent in a place where you know America’s music market is listening.

This year, UK musicians have taken up the opportunity.

On Wednesday, UK Trade & Investment hosted a British music launch party with the Smoke Fairies, Band of Skulls and Everything Everything. There were queues outside and the performances lived up to the hype. Band of Skulls – a three-piece rock band – in particular went down a storm.

Other event organisers said to us, “It’s going to be a challenge to compete with the British talent.”

The success was as much down to the production values as the bands. We have taken over a venue here in Austin, redesigned it and had fantastic input from UK production companies Capital Sound and Cato Music.

The British Music Embassy has also seen performances from bands highlighting the strengths of music from Wales, Liverpool and on Thursday we had three hours of Yorkshire music. Leeds-based pop rock band Middleman went down a storm with their guitar riffs, and contagious choruses.

A big theme at this year’s South by South West has also been the importance of the convergence of music and technology. We hosted a networking event for players from the music, creative and digital industries and we believe there is an enormous potential for ongoing commercial and creative opportunities between these sectors.’

From musicweek.com Friday 19th March 2010.

A full official update of all South West and BMF activity at SXSW will be posted up here shortly.

In the meantime, go to our SXSW blog for all the latest videos, news and updates from the BMF at SXSW 2010.