As a music fan, it’s difficult to complain about SXSW. We have seen some brilliant shows over the years but as many of you know, the festival has changed a lot. Over the last few years, there had been a dramatic influx of big corporate clients bringing some big bands with them. In itself, that was not a problem, but the volume of people coming into the city started to become unmanageable. Most were not there for SXSW but to be a part of what was happening, the place to be, and the place to be seen.
Austin had become the number one destination for Spring Breakers with its warm temperatures and a lot of free music shows that brings the crowd. But as a SXSW attendee, it became a little tougher to justify the amount of money spent on the trip, the badge, etc when the city had become overrun.
Even the official showcases were being affected as bars were allowed to let anyone in eventually if they paid a minimal charge. This meant packed venues with badge holders left outside because the bar had hit capacity by letting these non-badge holders in.
After the tragic accident last year, not caused by any corporate client or any SXSW showcase, but by a drunk driver, trying to escape a police pursuit, the Festival did some soul searching. The city had had enough and many bands, managers, and regular music fans had sent feedback saying it had gotten out of control. From where I stood, as long as I could get to see my 60+ bands I was happy but it was certainly becoming more difficult to plan and to negotiate the city to get to the shows.
This year, the festival spoke much about making changes and while I still think there is room to improve, this year was fantastic. Those corporate clients are gone, and while I still think there are too many free shows, those shows that attract non SXSW attendee’s to come into the city, the value of my badge was clear from Day One.
It was more organized and SXSW was bending over backward to make it as easy as possible for badge holders to get into shows. Most night time showcases were restricted to badge and wristband holders. The bigger day parties like Spotify, House of Vans, Pitchfork, etc were prioritizing badges with little or no lines and parties like Fader Fort became badge and wristband only.
So it is back to being about the bands. If you work hard, there could be a payoff. In the last few years, you could play 15 times and not get noticed because Coldplay of Kanye were getting all the headlines. Hopefully it means we are back to discovery, back to surprises and all those reasons why we were going in the first place.
In the end, the most positive sign of how great SXSW 2015 was? It is the fact that every single person I know that went is already committing to SXSW 2016. It’s been years since everyone returned to Toronto with that kind of excitement and passion for this festival.
I am glad, very very tired still…but very very happy. Have fun out there
Jim
Jim's Six day diary from Austin is HERE
