Starscream at SXSW 2022 for Meze Audio at the BBC British Music Embassy and Qobuz in a church!

Starscream always heads to Austin’s annual SXSW conference where the tech week collides with music week, making it the ideal place for audio brands to meet with artists and music fans to actually go and see live performances. Previous audio brands showcasing their work include Devialet, Shure, Sony, Fender, Adam Hall, Audio Technica, JBL and many more across consumer and pro sectors.

What did Starscream Communications do at SXSW this March?

Read more about what Starscream got up to at SXSW in previous years. 

Starscream Communications created and hosted a Meze Audio activation at the BBC British Music Embassy with all artists snapped by Licks magazine wearing the Meze Audio Liric headphones. Big thanks to all the artists involved inc Walt Disco, W.H Lung, Eliza Shaddad, Strawberry Guy, The Bots and George Riley, pictured below with the Meze Audio Lirics.

Meze Audio branding featured throughout the concert session with over 300 guests including media, artists and record labels. All guests were able to try the Meze Audio Liric via our trusty Fiio M11 Pro packed with Qobuz downloads. Here’s Ben from Discogs having a go. Other media in attendance included Business Insider, Red Bull, Magnetic Magazine, Spin and many more, covering music, tech and investment sectors.

We also created a QR code based competition on flyers around the venue and one lucky winner bagged a pair of Meze 99 Classics.

Meze Audio makes hand made headphones in Romania and relies on Starscream to create projects like this which engage the right media and make a valuable connection with music.

St Patrick’s Day saw Qobuz host a concert featuring Moor Mother, Circuit Des Yeux, Marina Herlop and Claire Rousay – full details up here.

The Central Presbyterian Church in Austin is quite the venue as you can see from the images below. What you can’t see is that it sounded incredible and a world apart from nearby dive bar Pas, reflecting the quality and curation that’s an essential part of Qobuz as a high-res music streaming service.

Beck joined media and music industry types to discuss his career, the music industry and his recording process. Rarely does an artist share so much to a small invited audience.

Shure took over the Speakeasy in Austin, celebrating the return of Music In Real Life, as they termed it. Claud, Priya Ragu and Josef were the highlights and the presence of live mics, headphones and pro gear for guests to sample and play with was a nice touch. And yes, that was a man painting an astronaut holding a mic in the middle of the venue.

Attending a conference about the future of vinyl (Vinyl Present, Vinyl Future) we met Kevin Smokler, creator of Vinyl Nation, the biggest documentary around the vinyl industry. If you haven’t heard about it, watch the trailer below, it’s a heart warming production which charts the fall and return of vinyl. If you’ve any connection to music or hi-fi, it’s an emotional watch. We had a chat with Kevin and Gold Rush Vinyl owner Caren Kelleher. More on that soon!

Sometimes the old ways are the best – we showed the world our work and it worked!

Want to do an event with us next year at SXSW? Contact Richard@starscreamcommunications.com