SOCAN co-hosted its annual boat cruise and co-sponsored the Canadian Blast BBQ & Showcase at the 2009 edition of South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival, held March 17-22 in Austin, Texas.

The boat cruise, co-hosted by ASCAP, welcomed about 110 SOCAN members and conference delegates for a leisurely tour around Austin’s Town Lake, beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 19. Guests included SOCAN members Jill Barber, Po’ Girl, Jay Semko, Dan Mangan and We Were Lovers, as well as SOCAN board member Sébastien Nasra.

The day before, SOCAN co-sponsored the Canadian Blast BBQ & Showcase, a kickoff music event of the SXSW festival, which started at 3 p.m. under the “Big Top” at Brush Square. The showcase attracted about 3,000 listeners, a record turnout for the five-year-old event. The afternoon featured captivating performances from the best in Canadian indie rock: Two Hours Traffic, Mother Mother, Beast, The Arkells and Shout Out Out Out Out.

The event, emceed by host Grant Lawrence, was webcast on CBC Radio 3 and broadcast live on Sirius Channel 86. SOCAN’s co-sponsors for the event were CIRPA (the Canadian Independent Record Production Association), FACTOR (the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings), the OMDC (Ontario Media Development Corporation) and the Government of Canada.

SOCAN also participated in The Canada Stand at the SXSW trade show, which distributed information about the more than 100 Canadian artists and independent companies at the conference. A host of SOCAN members, including Sam Roberts and Bedouin Soundclash, played at the “Canada House” – actually a local club called El Sol y La Luna, which was dedicated to presenting an all-Canadian schedule, comprising two daytime parties and one evening showcase per day.