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SXSW Cofounder Louis Meyers Has Died, According to ‘Austin Statesman’

Louis Meyers, one of the cofounders of Austin’s annual South by Southwest — which began today — has died, according to the Austin Statesman. One of the sprawling music, tech, food, and movies-centric event’s creators, Meyers sold his stake in SXSW in 1994, seven years after it began. He then moved around, from Denmark to New Orleans to Amsterdam and back, eventually, to Austin.

“The reason South by Southwest worked for the industry is because we took the time to be the A&R people,” Meyers told Kansas City’s The Pitch in 2013. “We cleared through thousands of showcase entries to find a few hundred acts that we felt were ready to be seen by the industry. It was critical to me personally that every act at South By was worth seeing, that nobody could walk away going, ‘How the hell did that band get booked at this thing?'”

Roland Swenson, SXSW’s festival director, confirmed the news to the Statesman. Little else is known at this time.