5 places to discover, download and listen to bands playing at SXSW 2010.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that SXSW music starts next week.  If you haven’t done so already, that means you’ve got one more weekend to go through the official SXSW schedule, comb through (and click) the unofficial party RSVPs, sift through the free shows [PDF] and then make a giant grid mapping out your schedule.  If you have money, then you can hire an intern to do all that for you. If you are a broke sap like me, however, that means you gotsta do it all yourself.

Don’t fret: There are several resources out there to help you discover SXSW artists without going through all 2000 bands.

5 Places to discover and learn about bands and musicians playing at SXSW

• The monster of all SXSW music resources is the unofficial SXSW torrent. It’s massive, but it’s pretty much all inclusive. Download, drop into iTunes, and listen while you’re making your grid. Party anyone?
• Hype machine, my favorite place to “discover” new music, has a page set up to listen to and download tracks from all the artists who will be playing their kick-a 4-day party. Good choice for the bouncy set.
• Our bud JB over at Mix 94.7 has put together a streaming playlist of his picks from SXSW. Featuring indie, roots, americana, electronic and several Austin bands, it’s an eclectic selection that might surprise some of y’all. Plus, he even included some of my faves.
• Mariah over at Rocking in Austin has been blogging her little heart out with bands playing at SXSW. With write ups and downloads, she’s got hip hop, indie, reggae, world and jazz. Also includes lots of Austin artists.
• KUT has joined forces with NPR to provide a FREE SXSW sampler from iTunes. You have to get the code here and then follow the directions to go to iTunes and download. It doesn’t have a massive selection, but what they’ve got is quality. And it’s FREE and legit.

Where do you learn about SXSW musicians? Tell us in the comments!

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