For the last eight years, Austin has drawn increasing numbers of musicians, moguls and hangers-on to the five-day South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, which ended today.

Marnie Stern was onstage alone with her guitar in one among more than a thousand showcase concerts at the annual South by Southwest Music festival.

Every March, music journalists and record-company executives flock here for the Southwest Music and Media Conference, known as SXSW, to look for future stars.

Above, a crowd mingles at the 2009 South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas.

No one would have dreamed of denying it here at the 18th annual South by Southwest Music and Media Conference.

The show, in the upstairs part of a club called the Parish, was part of the 20th annual South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, known as SXSW.

The film also screened at the 2010 South by Southwest Music & Film Festival (SXSW).

In 2008, Akala featured at the South by Southwest Music festival in Texas, as well as performances in New York, Los Angeles and in Brazil.

The documentary was shown at the 2011 South by Southwest Music and Film Festival and has won audience awards at various international film festivals.

He was playing his annual benefit show at the end of the South by Southwest Music festival, and the club was full of locals and the festival stragglers still in town.