LUCIDMEDIA

South By Southwest: A look at NxNE’s Geographic and Thematic Cousin

Written by Emily Santos Monday, 22 June 2009 12:41

In 1987, Austin, Texas kicked off their first, and relatively small, South By Southwest Music Festival. Austin – known primarily as being the home for the University of Texas – was still hard at work trying establishing itself as a major market.

Texas’ capital was no stranger to the world’s music scene though. Known as a “party town” to Southerners, its diverse music culture, from jazz to country to folk, dated back to the city’s early history. This musical ground work made the 80s a major stepping stone during Austin’s journey in becoming an “A-list” entertainment city.

Soon, Central Austin began attracting more original music nightclubs as SXSW began reaching out to North America, Europe and Asia, and appealing to bigger markets in places like Chicago, Toronto, Munich and Tokyo. With an immediate success, SXSW soon began promoting semi-established musicians from all around the globe.

Fast-forward 22 years later and SXSW is now a household name. Recently celebrating its 23rd anniversary, South By Southwest Music Conference and Festival has become a hot spot for singer, songwriters and music-lovers alike.

Since ’87 the South By Southwest phenomena has grown tremendously from 700 registrants approximately two decades ago to a whopping 12,000 registrants today. With help from a variety of sponsors, Austin, and its love for music, have transformed the Texan economy massively.

In 2008, the festival was estimated to have rack up over $110 million (US) for the city and with close to 1,800 performers this year, it is no wonder why “Austinites” have officially labeled their city as "The Live Music Capital of the World."

Back in 1994 though, the music festival embarked on a new development: conferences and festivals for the film and interactive media industry.

International hype also sparked SxSW to create a number of new offices for their out-of-country artists. SxSW now has offices in Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan encouraging new registrants to come to Austin.

SxSW is not only a place for artists to be discovered it is also an outlet for local and international businesses to get publicity. Using a trade show approach, advertisements in SXSWorld (the official SxSW magazine), or sponsorship packages, businesses receive exposure to nearly 29,000 industry representatives.

This year, industry reps traveled to Austin for the festival’s opening on March 13th. Running until March 22nd, the festival featured keynote speaker, and music legend, Quincy Jones. Over 170 films were showcased along with 80 stages spotlighting performers like Toronto’s Bedouin Soundclash (“When the Night Feels My Song”), American alternative rockers Third Eye Blind (“Semi-Charmed Life”), funnyman Gavin Stephens, American actor Dax Shepard (Without A Paddle) and Grammy-nominated American rockers Shiny Toy Guns.

For the sixth year in a row, SXSW Indie Village gathered together U.S. based, independently owned and managed record labels, giving visitors an opportunity to schmooze with industry bigwigs during the annual Music Tradeshow.

South By Southwest has taken the United States by storm becoming one of the country’s largest music festivals. For the fifth year in a row, SXSW has partnered with BitTorrent to provide 6 GB of music. The songs are DRM-free, RIAA-safe and can all be downloaded for free making it a cheap and easy way to fill your iPod!

The newest edition holds a record breaking 1,267 MP3s from a variety of artists who appeared at this year’s festival.

As the 2009 festival wrapped up, plans for next year’s were already underway. So mark your calendars! Registration for the 2010 South By Southwest Festival will be available in early August 2009. Registration badges are required to access SXSW conferences, festivals, and tradeshow events.

Register online for the music, film, or interactive media events at www.SxSW.com.