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By the great Andy Langer:
 

RIP SXSW Music. (A hasty post-mortem for SXSW 2025 and SXSW Music itself)
 
All week, I’ve been telling everyone that asked that I thought we were witnessing a festival in its death throes- a Snack Size SXSW with feather-light crowds, low hotel occupancy, surprisingly few sponsors, and a dearth of legitimate buzz bands. Given the closure next year of the convention center, the economic uncertainty that faces not just consumers but also sponsors, my guess was they’d try to do a 2026 business-as-usual and then fold up shop in 2027, using whatever brand equity was left to take it on the road to tertiary markets for mini culture festivals. The second part could still happen. Today’s announcement- a downsizing that effectively eliminates the traditionally partitioned music portion of the festival- caught me a little by surprise  but actually might be the right move. Folks, including SXSW (who talked about convergence a lot at one point but did very little to make it a reality) have been suggesting for years that only convergence can save SXSW.  Film now carries SXSW. And in large part because of the unpredictable ebbs and flows of the tech part of the festival, SXSW Music hasn’t been sustainable since at least 2018 and by 2019 was already noticeably smaller and less impactful than ever. Then came the pandemic and out of that, new SXSW ownership. A lot of what I’m going to argue here is stuff I’ve posted in previous post-mortems. But I’d argue we’re here now because SXSW has been so slow (and, oddly, reluctant) to right its own ship- to update the formula, loosen the reigns, and embrace reality. As such, a lot of these observations and criticisms are evergreen.

 

- Post-pandemic, a lot of folks have celebrated a renewed emphasis on bands, not brands, but we saw the cost this year in light attendance across the board. Sure, you saw young acts, waited in fewer lines and moved around more easily. And “Discovery” is nice conceptually, but big names/big shows/big lines used to trickle down money to venues, service industry, caterers, planners, event builders, security etc. Now, not so much.  And “Discovery” and the utility of SXSW for musicians is undercut when top-tier acts don’t come: big names bring upper-echelon industry types w/ em’: their managers, booking agents, label teams, publicists etc. that only come when their moneymaking artists appear at the festival. If you’re a young act traveling great distances, paying inflated lodging prices to play for petty cash or badge/wristband paydays, even in the digital age, these are the people young acts desperately hope/need to be in front of.  If they stay home, who are the “industry” the young discoverable bands are playing for at what’s by SXSW’s own admission is designed to be an “industry” gathering? Meanwhile, less corporate day parties/buyouts mean less money for clubs already struggling w/ rising rent and thin margins.

 

- There were clearly fewer acts and less stages this year, but still far too many for much of anything to be packed. In 2019 the festival had 1900 acts and 94 stages. Post-pandemic, those numbers shrunk some. But you can easily trace the death of SXSW Music to overabundance propelled by SXSW Inc.’s fear and greed. Over the years, SXSW snatched up every room with a stage they could, afraid they’d go rogue and piggyback w/ “pirate showcases” or unofficial parties. That’s clearly not necessary now. The genie left that bottle long ago and for years I’ve agued 1900 acts < 900 well-curated acts. SXSW Film (or Sundance for that matter) doesn’t find screens for every submission: they carefully pick films that mean something/that distributors might want etc. Music, though maybe even more subjective, seems more scattershot. Plus, 1900 acts spread across rooms that aren’t usually music rooms means a band can fly from Scandinavia only to play a room with poor sound, shaky can’t-keep-your-drums-upright stages, and non-existent sightlines. It also means spreading out the few high-profile acts SXSW has to make it worthwhile for these non-music venues to participate—taking crowds and dollars away from the clubs who fight the good fight to present live music year round, not just these 4 days. And for the bands? The costs for transportation, lodging and equipment rentals have increased exponentially over the years, particularly post-pandemic, sometimes prohibitively so. For bands at almost every level, some sort of corporate sponsorship is necessary to make it work. Simply put, SXSW Music lost its utility.

 

-SXSW got gross in the oughts’ (“What brand are you most excited to see at SXSW”? Ugh.) It was dangerous (the Red River tragedy) and laughably loathsome (The Doritos vending machine stage). It had to shrink to survive but I think the shrinkage came from market forces, not a careful and precise restructuring from SXSW itself. And those market forces have come home to roost. SXSW is expensive- for bands at every level, for attendees and for fans who have to pay for travel, accommodations, food etc. With expense reports being more closely scrutinized and an economic downturn clearly on the horizon, in general, partying it up in Austin a few days a year is no longer a annual given. As gross as SXSW’s lean into overt commercialization has been and as much as it threatened the soul of its origins, big corporations have always keep SXSW’s lights on. They pay big sponsor money, pony up for the parties and underwrite the mid-to-large size music talent. But when huge tech companies are laying off percentages of their employees they’re not only not in a position to throw big parties/big talent, but also not in a position to send their employees here with badges.

 

-For years, it’s been impossible not to notice how parking woes, hotel prices, traffic etc. drop off considerably when SXSW Music begins. The town empties out considerably the Wednesday AM after tech/film ends. The trickle-down for every sector of Austin business- from service industry to AirBNB rentls etc- ain’t what it used to be. And while many folks enjoyed big unofficial SXSW events like Luck Reunion, South By San Jose or the C-Boy’s-based SOCO Stomp, they’re mostly for locals without wristbands or badges- good for local business, bad for SXSW Inc. SXSW Inc- who’ve been driven by protectionism-at-all-costs ethos for years- might have been right about this: at some point, if there’s enough free stuff outside of SXSW’s control, eventually, few would feel like they  “need” a badge or wristband. And again, it feels like we’ve been at this point since at least 2019. Cleary, if SXSW were to entirely go away (and I’m not yet it saying it will) those kind of events would likely continue in some way. But they’d obviously have a harder time booking non-Austin talent. Is a mostly-Austin SXSW that isn’t SXSW – one that looks more like Free Week than SXSW – a good or bad thing? We may find out.

 

-And here’s something SXSW-watchers have whispered about for years- SXSW Inc. hasn’t made many friends. SXSW Inc’s go-to mode is hardball- they’re protectionists that load up contracts with fine print and reliably make it seem like they’re the ones doing you a favor allowing them to do business with them. And for the last few years, when everything started to shrink, that’s when having friends would matter most.. And I’d argue it appears they’ve run out of friends. And there's nobody in Austin that feels like they owe Penske anything, even if they indeed saved SXSW from what was surely gonna be a pandemic-fueled bankruptcy.

 

I still believe Austin needs SXSW. And I believe the 2026 reset- which hopefully is a true reset, not just a calendar change- could save SXSW. But what I suspect will happen is that for most of Austin, what days SXSW Inc runs its festival and what days we see music won’t change much. The big free parties will remain Wednesday-Sunday with lineups built primarily of Austin music and a handful of holdovers that took corporate money to finance their trips and are thus able to hang around a few extra days, Whether those events can find enough sponsors to keep them free is the big unknown.

 

This much we know: losing SXSW Music (and later, perhaps SXSW itself) represents the biggest existential crisis for Austin Music since the pandemic. The best case scenario? SXSW Music as we know it is dead and whatever you consider to be the spirit of SXSW lives on. That’s gonna take a strong economy, a united front from Austin’s music scene and a lot of luck.

Onward.
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Posted

will never understand that take. for the past 25 years of living in austin it's consistently been one of my favorite weeks of the year. 

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Posted
2 hours ago, stc said:

not reading anything written by andy langer. fuck him. 

 

1 hour ago, stc said:

will never understand that take. for the past 25 years of living in austin it's consistently been one of my favorite weeks of the year. 

Serious question, how can you comment on his take if you didn’t read it? 
 

Agree that SXSW is one of the best weeks in Austin. But sxsw music isn’t what it used to be. Yeah, I know nothing is, but the days of Vans renting out Mohawk for a week and bringing in big name bands are long gone. (Same with Red Bull House and Fader Fort) The money and sponsors just aren’t there. It’s a shame for Austin and the venues that counted on sxsw. 
 

I don’t think the blame lies solely with sxsw though. Tastes change (EDM and hip hop vs guitar oriented music) and being associated with a mass casualty event is never good.  I’m glad I got to enjoy it as long as I did, and I’ll miss what it was. Best case we get a locally driven experience with more things like SX San Jose and SoCo stomp. Worst case is it’s one more thing that Austin doesn’t have anymore. 

Posted

I saw GWAR and Andrew WK at the Levi's whatever the fuck. One of the best shows ever, was free and awesome. 

Interactive is what killed sxsw, CPG companies can't pay what idiot tech bro companies pay. I remember when Rainey got taken over by tech activations and thinking this is the end isn't it. Sure enough a slow trainwreck ensued which ruined the core of what sxsw was. 

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Posted

Let's clarify:  SXSW started as a festival for unsigned music artists to get exposure.  That lasted maybe a half decade.  Slowly, the assholes in charge started pandering to labels and then showcases got bigger and more exclusive and expensive.

I don't know if the original model could even survive these days.  Who is "signed"?  Everybody?  All I know is that I rarely see bands at SXSW proper events that don't suck ass.  The others, even the smaller ones that are worth a damn seem to be hooked into sponsored events, often during the day, and then there are a billion private parties competing with the shitty lineups at clubs every night.

It's just a failed business model.  Let it die.

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, stc said:

will never understand that take. for the past 25 years of living in austin it's consistently been one of my favorite weeks of the year. 



Mine, too. I had a blast this year. Saw a great free show at ABGB all day Friday and had their great pizza. Saturday it was an all day show at the Continental that ended with ShinyRibs.  Sunday an all day show at C-Boy that also ended with Shinyribs. Granted those weren't official SXSW events but they were SXSW adjacent and would never happen (and don't really) were it not for SXSW.   Saw several other bands during the week. Altogether about 30 hours of great music and great times with my friends.  My liver hates me now.

Edited by Hornius Emeritus
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Posted
13 hours ago, destroya said:

Serious question, how can you comment on his take if you didn’t read it? 

 it was a comment on the "fuck sxsw" post directly above mine. 

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Posted
16 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Let's clarify:  SXSW started as a festival for unsigned music artists to get exposure.  That lasted maybe a half decade.  Slowly, the assholes in charge started pandering to labels and then showcases got bigger and more exclusive and expensive.

I don't know if the original model could even survive these days.  Who is "signed"?  Everybody? 

Yeah, I think this is the biggest part of the answer.  The goal of getting signed to a label used to be (by far) the major hurdle for any artist.  If you got signed, it gave you credibility.  Once you were signed, the industry machine will make sure your record gets reviewed in print and online.  The label will (in part) help arrange and advertise your tour.  As an artist, you've at least got *some* kind of shot at being heard and rising above the noise.  

I'm not sure how much any of that is true these days... and I don't think there's anyone who REALLY knows what the model is.  

You definitely don't need a label to get your music onto the streaming platforms.  And maybe those thousands of dollars the band was going to spend to come to Austin could be spent making a creative video, paying influencers to promote on TikTok, putting on an "outsider" sort of show/tour for yourself, etc.  

So now, why would an artist fly to Austin?  And if the most promising bands with buzz and momentum aren't coming, then why would a music fan pay HUGE sums of money for a ticket?  The whole thing unravels pretty quickly.  

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Posted
7 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Austin Moaner.jpg

It's easy to figure out what year a person moved to Austin based on their answer to the question, "When did old Austin die?" Just like you can figure out someone's age by asking them, "When did Saturday Night Live stop being funny?"

Posted
2 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

It's easy to figure out what year a person moved to Austin based on their answer to the question, "When did old Austin die?" 

I just tell people I've been here long enough that I get to bitch about how bad traffic has gotten.

Posted
15 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

It's easy to figure out what year a person moved to Austin based on their answer to the question, "When did old Austin die?" Just like you can figure out someone's age by asking them, "When did Saturday Night Live stop being funny?"

Yep, it's always about 5 years after you moved there.  For me it was 1994.

RIP my old Austin 

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Posted

I moved here in 1990.

We had just moved to another house north of 183 near Parmer and I was still working at Rooster Andrew’s on south Lamar.

It was a Saturday, in the Fall, with Texas and OU playing. I left work with about 7 minutes left, did 120 on mopac, and walked in the door to see stonie Clark stop the 4th and goal.

Get wrecked OU.

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Posted
16 minutes ago, Handcruser said:

It was a Saturday, in the Fall, with Texas and OU playing. I left work with about 7 minutes left, did 120 on mopac, and walked in the door to see stonie Clark stop the 4th and goal.

I was watching it in a bar in upstate NY with my first wife.  That was one of our better days.

Posted
On 3/21/2025 at 12:01 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I was watching it in a bar in upstate NY with my first wife.  That was one of our better days.


I am directly responsible for that play. If you want to buy me a beer sometime, I'll be happy to accept.

Also, regarding when Austin turned crappy, one of my favorite things to ever post on Traces of Texas is this letter to the Austin newspaper complaining how things are not like they used to be. It was published in 1884:

"Thus one by one the old landmarks leave us and but few of the original houses of Austin remain. A few years hence the citizen of 30 years ago will be a comparative stranger in the home of his youth with no familiar objects to greet his eye save the eternal hills on which the capitol city sits enthrowned as a queen in her royal beauty and the sparkling Colorado at her feet."

----- "Old Citizen" complains about how Austin has changed too much in a letter to the Austin Daily Statesman dated October 5, 1884

 

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Posted
7 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

----- "Old Citizen" complains about how Austin has changed too much in a letter to the Austin Daily Statesman dated October 5, 1884

Just Armybrat being Armybrat.

 

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Posted

I seriously think SXSW just needs to reformulate as a 7-day event with every venue booking their own shows but one pass gets you in anywhere.  Stop the profit model, give the money to the clubs and the artists (minus a MODEST administrative fee).  As it stands it's just a floundering clusterfuck.  (Dibs.)

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Posted
I seriously think SXSW just needs to reformulate as a 7-day event with every venue booking their own shows but one pass gets you in anywhere.  Stop the profit model, give the money to the clubs and the artists (minus a MODEST administrative fee).  As it stands it's just a floundering clusterfuck.  (Dibs.)

Agreed.

It’s become South by So What.

Fuck the film and tech bullshit - run a corporate conference for that.

I’d love a week long music fest, $100 pass gets you in everywhere.
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