Truesday: Two Cents For The Price Of Free Time

Whatever you may choose to label it, that’s your unsubstantiated opinion, too, and it’s yours for the having. I care not.

Back to post-bananagate.

I’ve been doing my best to keep out of another locally brewing shitstorm, I really have. Perhaps not entirely, but I’ve put forth an honest man’s effort to stay on the periphery because I feel that the entire thing can potentially spiral out of control and become something far more destructive than that which anyone might have been trying to avoid in the first place.

But I’m running treacherously low on patience.

Anyone else hear this on KLBJ yesterday morning? Sweet Jesus. I really, really, really hoped that after Thomas and Le at Factory People dug around and found some solace in the words of city officials, that everyone else would have done the same. But that is obviously not the case. Many remain listless and upset about what they consider their ill-treatment during SxSW 2007. I don’t know if anyone really has a solid case for their complaint(s). I really, honestly, and seriously don’t.

And in a way, it doesn’t really matter, because there will be a whole new host of complaints next year, as there were last year, and the year before that, and so on and so on through the previous ten or so years (that’s as far back as I can remember, anyhow). There's always something that upsets someone.

What I can say with confidence is that I certainly felt a tectonic shift in the nature of the relationship between all parties of players interested and involved with SxSW. That shift has caused a great deal of hard feelings to come to the surface, and in my opinion: unnecessarily so.

There’s no doubt that something changed (just) before, or during this year’s SxSW, politically. And I don’t mean the badgers vs non-badgers, or independent party throwers vs SxSW organizers specifically. I mean: for everyone in total.

All of us.

There was an awful, negative turn in the politics of the thing, and it has reflected poorly on every one involved. EVERY ONE. Where once it was a music event that was bigger than the city itself, with a pleasant variety of bacchanalian insanity revolving around it, we now have a testy face-off between SxSW and a variety of other, semi-related detractors. The real insanity of it all is that it has somehow turned into an axe-grinding contest, with everyone, including SxSW spokespeople, claiming to be some put-upon David trying to sling pebbles at some justice-shitting Goliath.

And empathy apparently plays no part in anyone’s position, whatsoever. It’s always black and white, “them” vs “us” type arguments.

I am going to go out on a limb here and state what I feel is fucking obvious (and again, this is an EDITORIAL, so I’m not going to go off and cite a billion goddamn sources so that the fucking obvious can be proven for the billionth time because unlike some, I find semantic arguments to simply be entertaining, and not a fulltime fucking job). To this end and without any cloaking allegory, I bring you:

The Profile of a Completely Unnecessary Misunderstanding.

The players:

1. SxSW (the organization which runs it)
2. “Industry” attendees of SxSW (A & R folk, typically) bka: “Industry”
3. Unsigned Talent, bka “Unsigned”
4. Signed, or Established Talent, bka “Signed”
5. Registered non-“industry” attendees of SxSW, bka: “Public”
6. Unregistered attendees (Industry or otherwise) of SxSW: “Gatecrashers”
7. “Industry” Party Promoters (SxSW sanctioned or not)
8. “Public” Party Promoters (SxSW sanctioned or not)
9. The City. Includes: FD, Police, various inspectors, all bureaus and agencies

The motivations:

SxSW exists to make money. This is probably the most contentious thing that I’ll say, specifically because it has been repeatedly stated by particular members of SxSW that this is not the case. Of course it IS the case, and it’s extremely insulting for anyone to claim the contrary, REGARDLESS of how close they are to the organization itself. Sure, perhaps not initially, twenty some-odd years ago, but it has since grown beyond its initial humble purpose, and now obviously exists solely to promote itself. No shocker there, since this is how businesses continue to exist. This shouldn’t be so painful to admit. SxSW is not inherently evil, intentionally cruel, or diabolically elitist. It is simply a business that focuses on profit and self-preservation in the same predictable manner as other more familiar corporations. It’s no more (or less) of a sociopath than Baskin Robbins or Dow Chemical. Not that this should be seen as a proper defense. I’m simply saying it’s no more evil than a box of Kleenex or 7-Layer Burrito (going down). Those who organize SxSW do so with the intention of bringing the highest quality group of Unsigned Talent they can find (by their own measure) to Austin, and then charge Industry for access (badges) to this pre-vetted pool of up-and-comers, conveniently grouped together in one city, for a set few days. That’s their value-add.

Industry, hypothetically speaking, shows up to the SxSW festival for the same reasons anyone shows up to any industry-specific conference: make contacts and perhaps drum up some new business (find Unsigned Talent). Industry makes things happen through mining itself: other’s Talent, production, and media. So Industry wants to meet one another to see what the hell is happening “out there” so that they know where best to place their bets on “what the hip kids’ll buy”. SxSW provides them a convenient way to survey shit-loads of Unsigned Talent, which they may choose to throw contracts at. Or they may simply ignore all the bands and get shit-housed every day while trying to fuck each other like everyone else does at any other professional conference in existence. The purpose starts out the same, but the result is something of a mixed bag. None of this should be news to anyone.

Unsigned Talent shows up to get signed by Industry. That’s their only reason for playing SxSW, because presumably the majority of the crowd will be Industry, speckled with a handful of Public. Unsigned Talent does not get paid anything by SxSW, and typically resorts to shit like handjobs or street-juggling to pay their way to/during the festival.

Signed Talent treats SxSW like any other large gathering of music lovers. They show up to SxSW because there are a shitload of potential fans to be turned on to Signed’s vast and already-media-friendly back catalog, or they’ve got a new release to promote and their label is forcing the issue. That, or they’re conveniently on tour nearby, and why the hell not drop in for free booze and some easy money from any of the Promoters who are searching for crowd-drawing Established Talent? Many Signed bands are actually brought in by SxSW itself for a variety of potential reasons. It’s a music festival, so, ta-dah: expect some established musicians to keep crowds excited.

Public are everyday folk who are allowed to purchase access to the inner-circle of this Industry festival. It is worth noting that Public are the only sure-fire fans of music listed here, since their motivation to be involved could only be fueled by their desire to see the bands themselves. All other groups are biased by design.

Gatecrashers are likely the majority population involved in all of this. They are comprised of everyone who does not pay for any Official access to SxSW events (badges, wristbands, IN a band, pay-at-the-door, volunteer to work festival, etc), yet they all want (or perhaps feel entitled) to partake in the festivities anyway. These could be non-SxSW bands, Industry who don’t feel it necessary to purchase a badge, locals who have nothing better to do, or scene-lovers who come from all over the world because they already learned that you don’t need to pay for SxSW attendance in order to enjoy the surrounding activities (plenty of fruit falls outside the orchard grounds and into the public domain).

Industry Party Promoters are usually Media Companies (magazines, websites), Record Labels, or perhaps even Signed Bands, which show up to SxSW to promote themselves and whatever other corporate sponsors they find (liquor, clothing, branded drinks), by throwing private parties which they hope will draw large crowds of the Industry folk which SxSW has so kindly gathered together. They draw their crowds by offering the standard trifecta for free: food, booze, and entertainment (note that I’m not specifying the type of entertainment, as it is not standard because they simply want people to show up, so it could be comedians, fire dancers, bands, acrobats, whatever). It’s typically more schmoozing, over-boozing, and brand-building, than it is band-signing. Some will register with SxSW and play by their set of rules, others will go rogue and do it their own way. These make up the big names in the free-party circuit: Jane, Filter, Fader, Vice, Blender, Virb, SPIN, Pitchfork, The Onion, Rolling Stone, AusChron, Nylon, etc.

Public Party Promoters are essentially the dude who lives in the rental house next to you, or perhaps a local business owner who happens to know a shitload of bands/entertainment (local or not) who are in town for SxSW and decides to throw a big-ass party for kicks and/or personal promotion of some sort. This Promoter, depending on how far their reach extends, may also enlist corporate sponsorship not unlike that of the Industry Party Promoter, and may even recoup the cost of this event through that sponsorship (but I seriously, seriously doubt it). This segment grew substantially in the last couple of years to include local: unsigned DJs/bands, restaurant/bar/café owners, art galleries, and retailers. Some will register with SxSW and play by their set of rules, but the vast majority of these parties are intentionally outside the control of SxSW.

The City, in this context, gets involved to collect various fees for licenses related to the festival being thrown within its limits, and to ensure that there is an expected level of safety/security in place for everything occurring within those same limits. Their motivation is simply to collect revenues and help to keep people from dying on their watch.

The Friction.

SxSW’s product is the safe and organized access to high-quality, Unsigned Talent. That’s what the badges and wristbands are sold for. Without this structure in place and enough Industry/Public willing to pay to maintain it (by buying badges and wristbands), everything else will theoretically go away. All the Promoters, Industry, and Gatecrashers will disappear entirely from the Austin-in-March landscape, along with the related tornadoes of cash that swirl through the city. So everyone involved has a vested interest in SxSW’s vested interests, whether they admit it or not (except those who avoid SxSW entirely, because as a student of such phenomena, I am not a full believer in all forms of trickle-down economics).

For years, Promoters (about five years ago these were pretty much solely Industry in variety, and relatively few in number) have made intentional efforts to book the more popular SxSW showcase bands for their free, non-SxSW, corporate-sponsored events. Standard smart business, considering their target audience is the exact same Industry people targeted by SxSW. No surprises there.

This meant that an individual could see the most buzzed-up bands available during SxSW for FREE, and usually with free booze and food. It’s like a second layer of Talent poaching: SxSW poaches the market in general, sifting through the muck and vetting out several hundred bands of potential quality from the thousands who apply. THEN the Promoters step in and vet that group further, plucking out only the most exciting bands playing at SxSW to headline their parties.

Gatecrashers LOVE this service. Public and Industry are generally in favor of the practice, if not completely unaware of its existence. But SxSW is understandably miffed about it, because eventually these events may eclipse the Official Showcases in popularity, and start to pull money away from those Official SxSW Showcases, and the festival as a whole, thus causing the entire festival construct to implode and barf all over itself. Which would ruin all the fun for everyone.

And it only makes sense:

If Unsigned Talent must choose between playing in an Official SxSW Showcase to an Industry audience FOR FREE, or playing at a free-booze infused magazine party to essentially the same Industry audience (plus some crazy Gatecrashers) FOR MONEY, then, well...

Come on.

So SxSW is understandably against their Showcase Bands playing at any other events during the festival. To simplify this position, it is far easier to simply be against all non-SxSW events as they are unlikely to be satisfactorily complementary to the festival itself.

To further SxSW’s poor luck, The City often comes down hard on SxSW because it is a huge, sprawling convention that involves multiple venues with widely varying levels of relative safety. SxSW is fending off what they see as Talent poaching by various Promoters while “dealing” with The City to keep its showcases legal and current so that they aren’t shut down for non-compliance. Meanwhile many, but certainly not all, of the Party Promoters are (were) operating without much, if any pressure from The City (due to most of these parties being under-the-radar and spread out all over the city in unassuming locations).

SxSW, understandably, is not interested in competing on those terms. Since The City always appears to have a list of SxSW Showcases to comb through for compliance, why not supply them with a publicly-available list of the direct competition? Fair’s fair, right? And so they did, to “level the playing field” as it’s been referred. The City took this list as a formal complaint (Fire Marshall in particular), whether SxSW meant it that way or not, and properly investigated, as that is their job.

Of course, many of the Promoters on that party list were not aware that they were considered to be in direct competition with SxSW, and were therefore a little more than upset when they heard/saw that a list, including their party (parties) had been willfully distributed to The City by an apparently hostile source. And hearing that said hostile source was in fact SxSW, caused quite an uproar.

Most of the more seasoned Industry Party Promoters were well within compliance, but a handful of the Public Party Promoters were not. And the one particular violation which seemed most common ended up being highly suspect, although perfectly and absolutely legal.

Tempers begin to boil over on all sides, lines are drawn, communication between affected parties become scant and insulated (save for a select few who are, not-surprisingly and unlike myself, no longer flogging this carcass).

The end result and pretty much the current situation.

That handful of Party Promoters got the (perfectly legal) kibosh from The City, and they know it was SxSW who gave The City that list to begin with, so they’re upset that SxSW was upset enough to go to that length without reaching out to them first.

All Party Promoters are taking serious stock of the potential that they will be targeted for some equally esoteric reason during SxSW 2008, and will be making/adjusting plans accordingly (whatever that may end up being).

Gatecrashers lament the potential passing of the Free Party (not at all likely to actually happen), and tend to blame SxSW for their potential loss of free shit.

Public and Industry both collectively wonder if anyone involved has any professional credibility or basic ethics left in the world.

And The City feels they’ve once again done their duty in helping to avoid any and all tragedies during this year’s SxSW, but wonder why the hell everyone is suddenly so angry/paranoid toward each other.

Potential for a reasonable solution.

The Party Promoters WILL return next year. Why? Because the same Industry crowd will be here, and it’s just too attractive an opportunity to broaden a brand, generate buzz, or get some lightening-fast product exposure. SxSW will continue to try and actively manage the scheduling of Unsigned Talent in order to protect itself from what it sees as rampant poaching.

Given the above to be assumed -

There’s no use in SxSW continuing to fight them (yes, I do believe SxSW actively fights against their competition, as that is what defines their business). It would make more sense to pull them in closer, without doing the whole imperialistic Pay-To-Play co-opting thing of years passed. All that these brands want to do is be associated with particular varieties of “cool” during the festival. So offer them a legitimate opportunity to do so without removing their nuts entirely. If the only real fear is the poaching of Talent, then work to get some collaborative scheduling in there that actively involves the Promoters. No more demands, edicts, or hostility. You can’t beat the Promoters because they have access to shitloads more money than you do, and all the Unsigned Talent that you need to attract Industry is too easily tempted away with frivolous guarantees of stuff like “rent money” and “cash to buy some food to eat so you don’t die”.

If you continue to feel that this is YOUR neighborhood, and that you shouldn’t have to work with anyone else on anything, you will only be farming an increasingly hostile environment that will cause the whole festival to collapse. I can’t see it happening any other way.

And Promoters really do need to be more proactive in working with SxSW if/when that hand is extended in hopes of cooperation. Because the indisputable fact is that the organizers of SxSW do the vast, vast, vast majority of the leg-work and organization required to make the meat of this festival happen, and they are in a much, much, much better position to continue doing so. If for any reason they are no longer capable of securing the variety of Unsigned/Signed Talent necessary to fuel the selling of badges/wristbands, then the festival will be forced to cease operations. And if there’s anything remaining in the ashes of that disaster, it will likely be even MORE hostile to any Promoters coming in from elsewhere who refuse to be cooperative. That, or the whole shebang-e-bang will simply uproot and move itself to Coachella or some shit.

You don’t want that. California has no breakfast tacos.