FUTURE OF MUSIC
MUSIC
ROLLING STONE FUTURE OF MUSIC 2026 BRINGS LOLA YOUNG, FUERZA REGIDA & BIGXTHAPLUG TO SXSW
Rolling Stone has announced its return to SXSW in 2026 with its Future of Music Showcase, a three-night concert series taking place March 12–14 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin. Now in its fourth year, the showcase has positioned itself as a key platform for spotlighting artists shaping the sound and direction of contemporary music across genres.
New York City. TMN® Editorial.
This year’s edition will feature headlining performances by Lola Young, Fuerza Regida, and BigXthaPlug. The lineup reflects Rolling Stone’s broad curatorial scope, spanning pop, hip-hop, and música mexicana, and highlighting artists whose reach already extends beyond emerging circuits into global and arena-level audiences.
Lola Young will open the series on Thursday, March 12, bringing her raw, emotionally driven songwriting and soulful vocal delivery to the SXSW stage. On Friday, March 13, Fuerza Regida will headline with their high-energy take on urban corridos, joined by additional acts from Street Mob Records, the label founded by frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz. Texas native BigXthaPlug will close the showcase on Saturday, March 14, continuing a breakout run fueled by his distinctive Southern sound and narrative-driven lyrics. Additional performers for all three nights are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Beyond the artists themselves, the most significant change this year is structural rather than musical: for the first time, Rolling Stone’s Future of Music Showcase will be a ticketed event. While SXSW Platinum and Music Badge holders, along with Music Festival Wristband holders, will have limited access on a first-come basis, general admission tickets will be sold to the public through AXS.
At first glance, this may seem like a minor operational adjustment. In practice, it marks a shift in how discovery is framed within the SXSW ecosystem. Historically, SXSW has functioned as a hybrid space where industry, audiences, media, and artists intersected through a mix of formal programming and open-access encounters. Moving a flagship showcase behind a ticketed model signals a move toward more controlled access, clearer audience segmentation, and stronger brand mediation.
From an industry perspective, the decision reflects broader realities shaping live music and cultural events. Rising production costs, intensified competition for attention, and the push for sustainable revenue models have made monetized showcases increasingly common. In that sense, Rolling Stone’s move aligns with trends already visible across major festivals and media-led events.
What remains open to interpretation is how these shifts reshape the idea of “future” itself. Ticketed showcases offer sharper curation and a more defined experience, but they also narrow the paths through which audiences encounter new artists. Discovery becomes less accidental and more guided—filtered through institutions, partnerships, and access points.
The future of music will continue to emerge on stages like these. The question is not whether it exists, but how it is framed, who gets access to it, and under what conditions it is experienced.
The Future of Music Showcase is presented by JBL, continuing the brand’s long-standing presence across live music and major cultural events.
At TMN®, we follow SXSW not as passive spectators, but as a real-world learning environment. A place to understand how the industry moves, how cultural narratives are built, and where opportunities expand—or narrow—for those starting out. Announcements like this are not just news; they are signals.
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