Earlier this week, SXSW announced another 20+ additions to the 2025 Keynote & Featured Speaker lineup.
This announcement includes our first Music Keynote for this year’s experience — legendary guitarist / singer-songwriter John Fogerty, who has powered hits like “Fortunate Son,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” and “Bad Moon Rising.” Drop us an email with your all-time favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival song.
Thrilled as I am about Fogerty, the speaker I’m most excited about from this week’s announcement is Jay Graber, the 33-year-old CEO of one of the fastest-growing social media sites, Bluesky. This platform has seen huge spikes in growth in the last few months as other apps have grown increasingly more toxic. Bluesky is also bucking the trend of abandoning content moderator — their approach uses a combination of automated and human review processes, as well as user-driven reporting.
Indeed, the content, community and the more civil tone on Bluesky often feels like the early days of social media. But can this site remain true to this approach and its user-centric values as it continues to enjoy hockey-stick type scaling? Moreover, is there a sustainable business model behind the good vibes? Pressing Graber on these questions at SXSW will be Mike Masnick, the editor of TechDirt.
Other high-level industry leaders speaking at SXSW 2025 include Cristiano Amon (President and CEO of Qualcomm), Dr. Rumman Chowdhury (CEO of Humane Intelligence), Dr. Chelsea Clinton (Vice Chair, The Clinton Foundation), Josh D’Amaro (Chairman, Disney Experiences), Scott Galloway (NYT Bestselling Author), Jon Karafin (CEO and Founder of Light Field Lab), Mike Maples (Founding Partner, Floodgate), Nancy Northup (President and CEO of the Center of Reproductive Rights) and Molly DeWolf Swenson (Co-Founder and CEO of Moxie).
This week also brought us the first reveal from the Film & TV Festival. Don’t miss out on seeing our Opening Night TV Premiere, The Studio, along with World Premieres like Holland, Ash, Death of a Unicorn, The Accountant 2, and The Astronaut.
Additionally, we added another round of artists to the Music Festival lineup with Sunflower Bean, Jack’s Mannequin, Sofía Reyes, La Cendejas, and BLACK FONDU, to name a few.
And finally, don’t forget to check out the recently-revealed finalists for the 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards as well as the finalists for SXSW Pitch 2025. These two competitions showcase the world’s most impressive new tech-based projects and products,, as well as the globe’s most promising new startups.
All SXSW badgeholders have either primary or secondary access to all this amazing programming. Purchase your badge before prices increase on Thursday, January 30. Special discounts available for groups as well as students and early career professionals.
