AUSTIN (March 18, 2009)--About 2,000 acts are performing at South by Southwest in Austin this week and the odds of success might seem insurmountable.

The industry is a wreck and the economy is in disarray, but that's not stopping musicians.

SXSW is partly designed as an industry dialogue on the business, with panel discussions with such titles as "There's Still a Lot of Money in Songwriting" and speeches.

This year's keynote address is by Quincy Jones.

Devo, the Hold Steady and Steven Van Zandt will also be interviewed on stage.

But the energy of SXSW ultimately comes from the concerts.

The focus is on performance, and concert going remains one of the few fairly healthy parts of the music industry.

Kanye West confirmed to The Associated Press that he'll also perform, and Big Boi of OutKast is expected to put on a showcase to preview his upcoming solo effort.