[Dixielandjazz] The Business of Music Festivals - SxSW

[Steve Barbone]

Not OKOM, but about Music Festival Business at SxSW in Austin TX. Lots of
mover/shaker money floating around the festival.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

The Fort - By JEFF LEEDS - NY TIMES - March 19, 2007

One of the most comfortable places to hear music at SxSW was "the Fort," the
paved courtyard of what was previously a youth center in a prime downtown
location. Some of the most promising bands here are on the program. A giant
tentlike canopy holds off the Texas sun, the sound system is clear, and the
beer and Southern Comfort are free. There are services offered: free wi-fi
for roving bloggers and a guitar technician on hand for musicians in town.

But the Fort isn't affiliated with SxSW, officially. It's a project of the
Fader magazine and other corporate sponsors: the big one is Levi's, but
there is also signage for Microsoft, which kindly left out free stacks of
Zune coasters to replace those shiny plastic discs people have been using.
Anyway, the Fort is a leading example of what might be called the "shadow"
SxSW, a sprawling array of private advertiser-backed parties that run day
and night here in bars, clubs and temporary spaces built alongside the
festival's official showcases. There are so many of these events ‹ sponsored
by magazines, record labels, blogs and digital-music companies ‹ that a
visitor to Austin last week could see many of the festival's major
attractions, including performers like Amy Winehouse, without registering
for the convention at all.

It's a tricky situation. The parties, collectively, give more bands chances
to be seen (at least by whomever the advertisers choose to put on their
guest lists). But SxSW has built a huge, reputable convention and festival,
winnowing down its official performers from thousands of applicants ‹ maybe
a modest imprimatur, but a genuine one. So does that mean the advertiser
parties are parasitical, diluting the convention? Or do they create a
symbiosis that lets more artists be seen and heard by more people?

It's a tension that hangs over all manner of arts events, from the Sundance
film festival Park City, Utah, to the electronic/dance-centric Winter Music
Conference in Miami.

But this year SxSW's annoyance with the proliferation of advertiser events
has turned into a quiet crackdown. In particular, festival veterans point to
a little-noticed lawsuit SxSW filed in a Texas court last November against
Jelly NYC and LIVEstyle Entertainment, two New York event promoters who had
planned to stage a day party or similar event at a downtown club called
Speakeasy, a bit more than a block away from Sixth Street, the strip of bars
and clubs at the heart of the festival. According to the lawsuit, the
promoters were pitching advertisers on the idea of creating an event there
called the "Concert Series at SxSW" and seeking a main sponsor who would pay
$200,000 to be part of it.

SxSW sued the promoters for alleged trademark infringement. But the legal
papers indicate the festival organizers want to do more than simply keep
such corporate-backed events at arm's length. SxSW did not only ask for a
court order preventing Jelly NYC and LIVEstyle from mentioning the festival
by name in their marketing materials; organizers asked the court to block
the promoters of "sponsoring, producing or participating in" any music event
at all in the entire county during the running of the official SxSW. (The
promoters pulled the event).

Critics suggest that SxSW is being overly protective and is actually
reducing opportunities for artists to attend the festival, since the
advertisers sometimes pay the way for bands to come; SxSW doesn't.

Roland Swenson, one of SxSW's three principals and its managing director,
said he finds it odd that advertisers would accuse him of heavy-handedness.
"We have these billion-dollar corporations that come in and cast themselves
as the young rebels," he said. "They're not really willing to acknowledge
that we created this environment that they're here to use.

Mr. Swenson said the advertisers ‹ many of which hold invitation-only events
‹ run counter to the "egalitarian" spirit of SxSW, where anyone who pays the
registration fee has access to its events. An even bigger concern is the
festival's continuing ability to book the best performers for its own
official showcases.

"Frequently, the big fight for us is over the talent," he said. "What we are
worried about is South by Southwest turning into an event where the acts
that are most in demand only play these private corporate parties. If it
turns into that, then why would anyone sign up for our event?