Festivals and sponsors

Although SXSW is arguing that they are trying to limit day parties so that the best acts don't just play corporate parties, that's not a very viable argument. SXSW has already gone on record saying this is an event for industry people, not fans, so having corporate day parties pitched to fans shouldn't be an issue.

Rather, SXSW, like the Olympics and other sponsored events, is trying to maximize the value it provides to paid sponsors and to limit ambush marketing.

However, as this blog entry points out, eliminating the unofficial day parties will likely eliminate opportunities for many bands to play. And a free-for-all, like Burning Man, may be more in keeping with indie music.

South by Southwest Festival - Reviews From the Music Festival in Austin, Texas - New York Times: "MAR. 18 | 5:40 PM
The Fort By JEFF LEEDS

... 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 an 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 for their own purposes."

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?'"

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