Michael C. Santayana

October 2, 2015

                                                         SXSW has been Commercialized

 “SXSW brings swarms of influential people together in one place at one time. That many like-minded people in one place yields huge opportunities.” Pigeons & Planes, March 23, 2015.

As the largest music festival of its kind in the United States, the Austin South by Southwest music festival, known as SXSW, has become an important, transformative event since it started in 1987.  Music is transformed at SXSW commercially and creatively. Artists, audience, producers and consumers dynamically interact enlarging the event economically while enriching the vitality of the music. SXSW has inspired both recording artists and writers who chronicle the festival. One such writer is Jan Reid. 

Jan Reid, according to texasmonthly.com, writes books and is published in magazines and newspaper. He covers the cowboy side of western music rather than blues and other genres but sometimes touches on hippie and cosmic cowboy genres. In the book, Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, Jan Reid wrote on musicians before and after their performance at SXSW. Besides the impact on artist’s musical styles as a result of exposure to the event, he covers their effects on the genres performed.

Reid also covers how musical innovators from obscure origins like cosmic cowboy and outlaw, evolve into more popular genres like bluegrass and country rock. One performer he interviewed for his book during the SXSW 2004 festival is the Marcia Ball.  “She reflected, “We’ve watched Austin go from rock and country to blues and now a new generation is reinventing country music. Good for them. But we’re not through. We’re the baby boomers, and those people are still buying records- a lot of records. Little radio stations in little towns all across the country are doing some very inventive programing. Also we’re the generation who started rock festivals. (362)” Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock by Jan Reid.

Marcia Ball was ready to abandon her music career until her breakthrough performance at SXSW. Reid describes how the festival affirms traditional Southwestern music while still being a springboard for both careers and musical innovations. Catering to young and old consumers who demand different genres, the festival not only provides different artists but helps transform those artists as well. Author Laurie E. Jasinski writes on the SXSW festival from a more statistical and commercial perspective.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association, Laurie E. Jasinski traces the festival from its rock and roll days to its growing technological and corporate focus. Showing her 17 years’ experience with the Handbook of Texas, she documents how artists begin as renegades and gradually conform to more commercial music as they sign with labels providing professional management. This is how the transformation starts; “Organizers launched an annual SXSW Preview Guide in February 2004, and in November 2006 they issued the first edition of a new quarterly magazine, SXSWorld, "devoted to coverage of the people and companies who collectively make us SXSW." The magazine is free to thousands of people in the entertainment industries. More than 12,600 music professionals participated in the twenty-second annual conference over a ten-day period in 2008. That year, 1,800 acts performed at more than eighty venues. SXSW celebrated its twenty-fifth conference in 2011 and showcased approximately 2,000 musical acts at more than ninety venues. The festival began in 1987 and is produced by the Austin-based private company South by Southwest, Inc. The internationally-recognized event in March serves as a showcase for musicians and provides a forum for music-industry professionals.” South by South West uploaded by Laurie E. Jasinski in The Handbook of Texas. The Austin Music Festival was already a magnet and platform for entertainers but then became the magazine propelled a corporate invasion into the spotlight. This brought more artists that brought more corporate interests. The performers becoming professional means service to the public and not just a get-together of local artists performing for fellow artists. By 2008, as this quote indicates, the upward spiral of artists and industries got momentum and the festival grew. Another view on the festival is from prize winning author Jon Swartz.   

Unlike Jan Reid, Swartz focuses on public reaction to enterprising corporations. Swartz according to techinclusion.co.com, has won many awards in the US and Britain. A Californian who writes for only liberal sources, Swartz is also lifelong technology fan. His readership is heavily techies and music fans. He writes, “To the uninitiated, SXSW is a confluence of tech ideas, music acts and film showings, where nerds get a chance to rub shoulders with movie stars and music legends. It has grown dramatically over the past few years, putting a strain on Austin but also pumping the local economy.” Swartz sees SXSW as a place where ideas spread, but what he sees is mostly “Tech” for Nerds, his target audience. Now remember, this magazine quote was posted 03/17/2015, and February 2004 is the year Austin changed from amateur to professional; SXSW is changing, pulling in different artists and stakeholders.

In 1987, the festival was mostly local artists performing for artists. By 2008, the music industry was bringing more artists but was also there to find talent and ride that talent to profit.   Local music stepped aside to make way for the commercial juggernaut that SXSW has become. Music, astounding in itself, is affected by the way we hear it and how it develops. The Music environment has become more complex than before. SXSW has proven to be a popular and effective platform for spreading ideas throughout the world and those ideas can have profound impacts on people’s lives.

Bibliography

Laurie E. Jasinski., The Handbook of Texas; South by South West Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on August 26, 2015. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Jan Reid. “Improbable rise of redneck rock” DCCCD.edu’s online library, 2004

“SXSW Music 2015 QUOTES”, March 15-20,

Jon Swartz DCCCD.edu’s online library. .USA Today. 03/17/2015.{ ebscohost.com.library.dcccd.edu}