The San Diego Music Thing music and media conference, now in its seventh year, attracts aspiring professionals, industry leaders, musicians, and students. Daytime events include interactive panels, round table discussions, mentoring sessions, and discussions with industry professionals. This year's featured speaker, Moby, is considered to be one of the most important dance music figures of the 1990s. The Music Fest portion of the conference, taking place in the evening, will include performances from over 150 local and national musical acts performing at venues throughout San Diego including the Casbah, The North Park Theatre, Soda Bar, and the 91X Next Big Thing Stage. The evening shows will include performances by Deap Vally, Dengue Fever, Liars, Meg Meyers, Barcelona, Earth, Retox, Moth & the Flame, Moving Units, and more. Sponsored by Blue Moon Brewing Company and the City of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture, all proceeds from the San Diego Music Thing benefit the San Diego Music Foundation, a non-profit that develops music programs throughout San Diego County. The original program was "Guitars for Schools,” a partnership with Taylor Guitars to introduce guitar to music curricula in San Diego schools, as both a way to augment existing programs and to offset the loss of arts instruction due to budget cuts. Since its inception the program has helped over 45,000 students from grades K-12. Performers include Dengue Fever (September 12) and reunited San Diego rockers Ilya (September 13), as well as Liars, Barcelona, Slow Magic, Meg Meyers, Deap Vally, Fenech-Soler, La Santa Cecilia, Earth, Dengue Fever, Moving Units, Retox, King Dude, Desert Noises, The Moth & The Flame, Swamp Dogg, Andrew Belle, The Zeros, Queen Caveat, Justin Furstenfeld, The Janks, Wild Ones, Sad Robot, Haunted Summer, Dr. Seahorse, Ark Life, Bogan Via, Okapi Sun, The Paragraphs, The Blues and Greys, The Singles, The Midnight Pine, Spero, Sidney Bowen, Emily Jane White, Ed Ghost Tucker, Deadly Birds, Subsurfer, Neighbors to the North, Vonaian Gai, Oh Spirit, Triumph of The Wild Boy, Natalie Tate, Erik Canzono, The Verigolds, Golden Beaches, Bushwalla, Rebecca Jade & The Cold Fact, Cults, Colony House, The Griswolds, The Hood Internet, Mini Mansions, and Cherry Glazzr.