Every March the music world invades the hotel rooms, music clubs and convenience stores of Austin, Texas for the South By Southwest Music Festival. Originally begun in 1987 as a showcase for unsigned bands, SXSW has evolved into a sprawling media behemoth, a panorama of all musical styles, a minefield of interactivity, and an orgy of conferences and product demonstrations. This year nearly 2,000 musical artists are slated to perform in nearly every nightclub and concert hall in downtown Austin, and probably a couple living rooms as well.

Zune’s exclusive SXSW ’09 Collection is a mammoth list of songs from 200 different artists playing the festival from March 16 to 22. In respect of the festival’s spirit of discovery, it contains a whole lot of independent artists who are just starting to break out of their own local scenes. It’s also peppered with tracks from big names that are scheduled to appear, such as the Decemberists, Tori Amos, Trail of Dead, Echo & the Bunnymen and others. So with one click Zune Pass subscribers can effectively obtain a fairly deep overview of the hipster equivalent of a Shriner’s convention.

We’ll see you in Austin. I’ll be wearing a black shirt, so look for me.