Wednesday, March 5, 2014

What is SXSW? Here is a little history

All too often we hear about events like Austin's SXSW but do not know much about it's origins, successes and contributions. the information that follows is courtesy of ;  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, they have complied an excellent history of the event and fun facts about how it has grown and matured into todays week long music/film/interactive festival.

If you have more questions about Austin or want information about real estate in the central Texas area please do not hesitate to contact me.  Happy SXSW


South by Southwest (SXSW) is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences that take place every spring (usually in March) in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days, with SXSW Interactive lasting for five, Music for six, and Film running concurrently for nine days.
South by Southwest is run by a company, called SXSW Inc., that plans and executes conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events.[1] In addition to the three main South by Southwest festivals, the company runs three other conferences, two in Austin: SXSWedu, a conference on educational innovation,[2] and SXSW Eco, an environmental conference;[3] and one in Las Vegas: SXSW V2V, a conference focused on innovative startups.[4]

Overview[edit]

SXSW Music Festival[edit]

SXSW Music is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, with more than 2,200 "official" performers and bands playing in more than 100 venues.[citation needed] SXSW Music offers artist-provided music and video samples of featured artists at each festival via their official YouTube channel.[5][6]

The music event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to nearly 12,000 registrants. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events have grown every year, most recently bringing around 15,000 to 20,000 registrants to Austin every March.[7]

Bands must cover their own expenses for travel and lodging at the event. All performers are offered a cash payment ($100 for solo acts or $250 for bands) or a wristband package that allows access to all music events.[8]

SXSW Film Festival[edit]

SXSW Film is a film festival, focusing on new directing talent.[9]

SXSW Interactive Festival[edit]

SXSW Interactive is focused on emerging technology, a focus which has earned the festival a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies.[10] The festival includes a trade show, speakers, parties, and a startup accelerator. According to a festival organizer Louis Black, SXSW Interactive "has probably been the biggest of its kind in the world" since 2007.[11]

History[edit]

Inception/1980s[edit]

In July 1986, the organizers of the New York City music festival New Music Seminar contacted Roland Swenson, a staffer at the alternative weekly The Austin Chronicle, about organizing an extension of that festival into Austin. The plans did not materialize, so Swenson decided to instead co-organize a local music festival, with the help of two other people at the Chronicle: editor and co-founder Louis Black, and publisher Nick Barbaro. Louis Meyers, a booking agent and musician, was also brought on board.[12] Black came up with the name, as a play on the name of the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest. The event was first held in March 1987. The organizers considered it a regional event and expected around 150 attendees to show up, but over 700 came, and according to Black "it was national almost immediately."[11]

Meyers left Austin and the festival in the early 1990s, but Black, Barbaro and Swenson remained the festival's key organizers as of 2010.[11]

1990s[edit]

Singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked was the keynote speaker at the 1992 South by Southwest. She caused controversy by delivering a speech, written by her then-husband Bart Bull, criticizing white musicians for stealing music from African-American artists; and then later during the same conference when she tried to kick the band Two Nice Girls off of a benefit concert, a move that some called anti-gay, due to Two Nice Girls' overtly lesbian image.[13]

In 1993, SXSW moved into the Austin Convention Center, where it is still held.[14]

In 1994, SXSW added a component for film and other media, named the "SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference".[11]

That year, the three brothers of the band Hanson were brought to SXSW by their father in order to perform impromptu auditions for music executives, in the hopes of getting industry attention. Among the people who heard them was A&R executive Christopher Sabec, who became their manager, and would soon afterward get them signed to Mercury Records.[15]

In 1995 the SXSW Film and Multimedia Conference was split into two separate events, "SXSW Film" and "SXSW Multimedia".[11]

Comedian and actor Fred Armisen began his comic career with the short film Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW, released in 1998, in which he poses as various characters, asking silly questions of musicians and other attendees at that year's SXSW Music Conference.[16][17]
In 1999, SXSW Multimedia was renamed "SXSW Interactive".[11]

2000-2009[edit]

Singer-songwriter John Mayer's performance at the 2000 SXSW Music festival led to his signing soon thereafter with Aware Records, his first record label.
A performance by the band The Polyphonic Spree at the 2002 SXSW Music festival helped bring them to national attention before they had signed with a major label.[18]

At the 2002 SXSW Film Festival, the film Manito won the jury award for narrative feature, while the documentary Spellbound won the jury award for documentary feature.
British singer James Blunt was discovered by producer Linda Perry while playing a small show at the 2004 SXSW Music festival, and was signed to Perry's Custard Records soon thereafter,[19] where he would go on to release all three of his subsequent albums.

The 2005 SXSW Film is considered by some to be the origin of the mumblecore film genre. A number of films now classified as mumblecore, including The Puffy Chair and Mutual Appreciation, screened there, and Eric Masunaga, a musician and the sound editor on Mutual Appreciation, is credited with coining the term "mumblecore" at a bar while at the festival.[20]

The film Hooligans won both the Feature Film Jury Award and the Feature Film Audience Award for narrative feature, while The Puffy Chair won the Feature Film Audience Award in the "Emerging Visions" category. The documentary film Cowboy del Amor won the SXSW Competition Award and the Audience Award.

A secret concert at the 2006 SXSW Music by the band The Flaming Lips was called one of the "Top 10 Music-Festival Moments" of all time by Time magazine in 2010.[21]
Jimmy Wales being interviewed at 2006 SXSW

The 2006 SXSW Interactive featured a keynote panel of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.[22]
That year, "Screenburn at SXSW", a component for video games, was added to SXSW Interactive.[11]
The 2007 music festival took place from March 14 to 18, and more than 1,400 acts performed.

Two of the top film premieres that year were Elvis and Anabelle and Skills Like This.
The social media platform Twitter notably gained a good deal of early traction and buzz at the 2007 SXSW Interactive,[23] though it did not launch there, as is sometimes reported.[11]

The 2008 SXSW Interactive got media attention due to a keynote interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg by technology journalist Sarah Lacy that was considered by some observers to be a "train wreck" due to an audience perception that Lacy was asking uninteresting questions, as well as mocking or terse answers in response from Zuckerberg.[24]
In 2008, a comedy element was added to SXSW; it was held for one night. (By 2012, comedy performances occurred on all nights of the festival.)[25]

The 2009 festival was held March 13–22. The Interactive section of SXSW in particular drew larger attendance levels; the influx strained the networks of providers such as AT&T (primarily due to heavy iPhone usage).[26] Also new was the founding of an international organization for those not attending, dubbed NotAtSXSW. Coordinating through Twitter and other online tools, notatsxsw events were held in London, New York, Wisconsin, Portland, Oregon and Miami.[27]
Foursquare was launched at 2009 SXSW

The 2009 SXSW Interactive saw the launch of the Foursquare application, which was called "the breakout mobile app" of the event by the Mashable blog.[28]

The 2009 SXSW Film screened 250 films, including 54 world premieres. The event was notable for having the United States premiere of the film The Hurt Locker, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010.[11] The winners of the feature jury awards were, for documentary feature, 45365, and for narrative feature, Made in China.[29]

2010[edit]

The 2010 music festival, which took place March 12–21, was dedicated to Alex Chilton, who died shortly before he was to perform with Big Star.[citation needed] A tribute concert was performed in his honor on March 20, 2010.[30]

At the 2010 festival, nearly 2,000 bands were officially scheduled to perform,[31] and festival reps estimated that over 13,000 industry representatives attended.[32] Though traditionally the Austin Music Awards kick off the festival, that year organizers slated it as the closing act. Local musician Bob Schneider earned 6 awards, including Song of the Year, Singer of the Year, and Band of the Year (with Lonelyland.)[31] The 2010 festival was also notable for appearances by the surviving members of the band Moby Grape.[33]

At the 2010 Film festival, Magnolia Pictures bought the film rights to the science-fiction film Monsters on the night it screened, in what was the first-ever "overnight acquisition" at SXSW. Journalist Meredith Melnick of Time magazine called this purchase a turning point for SXSW, leading to a greater interest among film studio executives in attending the festival in person.[34] That year also saw the premiere of the indie favorite Tiny Furniture, which won the award for Best Narrative Feature.

The 2010 Interactive festival had an estimated 12-13,000 paying attendees, which represented a 40% jump over the previous year.[35] This was the first year in which the interactive festival's attendance surpassed the music festival's.[35] The keynote presentation was an interview of then-Twitter CEO Evan Williams by Umair Haque, an interview that many in the audience found disappointingly superficial.[36] Also during the interactive festival, the first-ever (and so far only) "Hive Awards For the Unsung Heroes of the Internet" were held.

2011[edit]

Conan O'Brien promoting Conan O'Brien Can't Stop at the 2011 SXSW

The 2011 SXSW festival ran from March 11 to 20.
The keynote presenter for SXSW Interactive was Seth Priebatsch, founder and CEO of the mobile-gaming platform SCVNGR.[37] The 2011 Interactive festival was by far the largest it had ever been, with an estimated 20,000 attendees.[38]
Also in attendance at SXSW was boxing legend Mike Tyson, promoting his new iPhone game with RockLive at the Screenburn Arcade[39]

At least two films screened at the SXSW Film festival gained distribution deals there: the documentary Undefeated (which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature) and the thriller The Divide. As a result, film critic Christopher Kelly wrote that in 2011, SXSW Film went from being "a well-regarded but fundamentally regional event" to having "joined the big leagues of film festivals around the world."[40] That festival was also notable for having the premiere of the film Bridesmaids.[41]

The March 15 screening of the Foo Fighters documentary Back and Forth was followed by a surprise live performance by the band itself, with a setlist that included the entirety of the then-upcoming album Wasting Light.[42]

2012[edit]

SXSW 2012 ran from March 9 to 18.

The standout technology of the 2012 SXSW Interactive was generally stated to be "social discovery" mobile apps, which let users locate other nearby users. Social discovery apps that had a presence at SXSW included Highlight, Glancee, Sonar and Kismet.[43][44]
SXSW Film saw the premiere of two major Hollywood films: The Cabin in the Woods[45] and 21 Jump Street.[41] Two films got distribution deals there: Girls Against Boys and The Tall Man.[46] Another film, Gimme the Loot, which won the SXSW Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize, got a distribution deal a week after the festival.[47]

2012 was also the first year the music portion was expanded to Tuesday. The musical festival included rappers such as Talib Kweli and Lil' Wayne, along with surprise appearances by Big Sean and Kanye West; indie bands that appeared included MENEW and The Shins. Bruce Springsteen was the keynote speaker for the music festival.[48]

2013[edit]

The big-budget films The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Evil Dead premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film, as did the Snoop Dogg documentary Reincarnated, and Spring Breakers had its U.S. premiere.[49] The film Short Term 12 won the grand jury award for Best Narrative Feature. The films Cheap Thrills and Haunter received distribution deals there,[50] and Drinking Buddies got a distribution deal several days afterwards.[51]

The 2013 SXSW Interactive saw another huge jump in registration, now with 30,621 paying attendees.[52] This was over three times the number that had attended in 2008 (9,000), just five years previously.[53] The keynote talk for the 2013 SXSW Interactive was given by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.[54] The "Screenburn" and "Arcade" components were renamed to "SXSW Gaming" and "SXSW Gaming Expo", respectively.[55] The Interactive conference was noted for its increased corporate presence, featuring major participation by Samsung, 3M, Target, American Airlines, Adobe Systems and AT&T, among others.[54][56] CNN, CBS and CNET called Grumpy Cat the undisputed "biggest star" of SXSW Interactive over Musk, Al Gore and Neil Gaiman.[57][58][59]

Economic impact[edit]

SXSW is the highest revenue-producing event for the Austin economy, with an estimated economic impact of $190.3 million in 2012.[60]

Similar festivals[edit]

The creators of South by Southwest co-created two similar festivals in 1995: North by Northwest (NXNW) in Portland, Oregon, and North by Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto. North by Northwest ended in 2001, and was replaced by MusicfestNW, an event run entirely by NXNW's other founders, the Willamette Week.[61] In 2006, SXSW organizers created West by Southwest (WXSW) in Tucson, Arizona, a music festival which occurs directly before South by Southwest and mostly features bands that are scheduled to play at SXSW.[62]

Other festivals inspired by SXSW include 35 Denton (formerly known as "North by 35" or "NX35" and "35 Conferette") in Denton, Texas, XOXO in Portland, Oregon, South by Due East in Houston, C2SV in San Jose, California, Live at Heart in Örebro, Sweden, The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, Incubate (formerly known as "ZXZW") in Tilburg, Netherlands, MoSo Conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and The Goa Project in India. South by So What?!, a one day music festival, is also named after South by Southwest.

References[edit]

  1. Jump up ^ SXSW Inc.
  2. Jump up ^ "About SXSWedu". Sxswedu.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  3. Jump up ^ "About SXSW Eco". Sxsweco.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  4. Jump up ^ Gallaga, Omar L. (2012-10-23). "SXSW Interactive expanding next year with Las Vegas startup conference". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2013-08-08. 
  5. Jump up ^ Birney, Adrienne. "SXSW Technical Coordinator". Retrieved 2011-011-28. 
  6. Jump up ^ "The Official SXSW site". 
  7. Jump up ^ "About SXSW". Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  8. Jump up ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2013/03/18/why-most-acts-dont-get-paid-at-south-by-southwest/
  9. Jump up ^ Peters, Yves (March 31, 2012). "Man & Gun and Les Bleus de Ramville Win SXSW Film Design Awards". The Font Feed. Retrieved January 11, 2013. 
  10. Jump up ^ "Interactive News | SXSW 2013". Sxsw.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i SXSW stays course, continues growth, Alex Geiser, The Daily Texan, March 18, 2010
  12. Jump up ^ A Guide to the South By Southwest, Inc., Records, 1987-1997, Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
  13. Jump up ^ The Education of Michelle Shocked, Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer, April 25, 1996
  14. Jump up ^ SXSW Hotels -- The Early Days[dead link]
  15. Jump up ^ 1997 Oklahoman of the Year, Oklahoma Today 1997 Year in Review
  16. Jump up ^ Portlandia Fred Armisen biography, IFC
  17. Jump up ^ Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW, YouTube
  18. Jump up ^ Polyphonic Spree: From Voices In A Singer's Head To Voices On The Stage, Corey Moss, VH1 News, April 25, 2003
  19. Jump up ^ Five Rounds with James Blunt, Nancy Miller, Entertainment Weekly, March 17, 2006
  20. Jump up ^ Lim, Dennis (August 19, 2007). "Mumblecore - The New Talkies: Generation DIY". The New York Times.
  21. Jump up ^ Top 10 Music-Festival Moments: Flaming Lips at SXSW — 2006, Dan Fletcher, Time, March 18, 2010
  22. Jump up ^ SXSW 2006 Panel: Craig Newmark & Jimmy Wales Keynote, Auscillate blog, March 13, 2006
  23. Jump up ^ What is the process involved in launching a startup at SXSW?, Quora
  24. Jump up ^ Journalist becomes the story at Mark Zuckerberg SXSWi keynote, Daniel Terdiman, CNET "Geek Gestalt" blog, March 9, 2008
  25. Jump up ^ Morgan, Richard (January 23, 2012). "Messin' with Texas: Why Doesn't SXSW Pay its Comedians?". Splitsider. 
  26. Jump up ^ Calore, Michael (March 14, 2009). "SXSW: IPhone Influx Pushes AT&T to the Limit". Epicenter (blog.wired.com) (Conde Nast). 
  27. Jump up ^ Jamieson, Ruth (18 March 2009). "Can't make it to SXSW this year? Go to #notatsxsw instead". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-05-23. 
  28. Jump up ^ Foursquare is the Breakout Mobile App at SXSW, Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable, March 16, 2009
  29. Jump up ^ By (2009-03-18). ""Made in China" and "45365" Take Top SXSW Jury Prizes". Indiewire. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
  30. Jump up ^ "SXSW Tribute Concert for Alex Chilton". 20 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-24. 
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b "SXSW 2010 Draws to a Close". nbcnewyork.com. 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
  32. Jump up ^ "Scenes From the Geekfest at SXSW". DailyFinance.com. 2010-03-14. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
  33. Jump up ^ Raul Hernandez, Live Shots: SXSW Music 2010, Austin Chronicle, March 26, 2010.
  34. Jump up ^ Art of the Film Deal: Is South by Southwest Becoming the New Sundance?, Meredith Melnick, Time, April 1, 2011
  35. ^ Jump up to: a b Confirmed: SXSW Interactive paid registration surpasses Music, Omar L. Gallaga, Austin360.com, March 17, 2010
  36. Jump up ^ SXSW organizers concede keynote flubs with Twitter Q&A, Omar L. Gallaga, Austin American-Statesman, March 16, 2010
  37. Jump up ^ "SCVNGR at SXSW--high-flying, or head in the clouds?". 12 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-12. 
  38. Jump up ^ Where the Geeks Are: Dispatches From the Largest SXSW Interactive Ever, L. A. Lorek, Daily Finance, March 15, 2011
  39. Jump up ^ McCarthy, Caroline (2011-03-13). "Mike Tyson wants to be an iPhone knockout | SXSW - CNET Blogs". Cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  40. Jump up ^ Commentary: South by Southwest is in danger of losing its indie film cred, Christopher Kelly, DFW.com, March 17, 2011
  41. ^ Jump up to: a b SXSW: '21 Jump St.,' 'Cabin in the Woods' eye 'Bridesmaids' bouquet, Mark Olsen, 24 Frames (Los Angeles Times blog), March 8, 2012
  42. Jump up ^ Foo Fighters Documentary Premiere Followed By Surprise Show, VH1
  43. Jump up ^ Hottest new apps out of SXSW 2012, Jaymar Cabebe and Jason Parker, CNET, March 12, 2012
  44. Jump up ^ SXSW 2012: The 'Highlight' of the festival, Jon Swartz, USA Today, March 13, 2012
  45. Jump up ^ In shadows of hype, dialogue of 'too much' at SXSW, Jake Coyle, The Associated Press" March 13, 2012
  46. Jump up ^ SXSW Features ‘Girls Against Boys’ and ‘The Tall Man’ Picked Up For Distribution; ‘Barrymore’ To Finally See Light Of Day, Amanda Waltz, The Film Stage, March 13, 2012
  47. Jump up ^ SXSW: 'Gimme the Loot' director Adam Leon on winning big, landing distribution deal, Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly: Inside Movies, March 19, 2012
  48. Jump up ^ "Bruce Springsteen's SXSW Keynote: 'Stay Hard, Stay Hungry'". Billboard. 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2013-04-15. 
  49. Jump up ^ SXSW 2013 Brings 'Burt Wonderstone,' Spring Breakers,' 'Evil Dead,' 'Drinking Buddies' & More To Austin, Kevin Jagernauth, Indiewire, January 15, 2013
  50. Jump up ^ Olsen, Mark (March 12, 2013). "SXSW 2013: 'Short Term 12' wins feature prize". Los Angeles Times. 
  51. Jump up ^ Yamato, Jen (March 19, 2013). "Magnolia Acquires SXSW Pic ‘Drinking Buddies’". Deadline. 
  52. Jump up ^ Nicole Villalpando, "Biggest Interactive yet as SXSW begins Music, hands out Film Awards", Austin American Statesman, March 12, 2013. Retrieved on March 13, 2013
  53. Jump up ^ 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival Wraps Up Strong Year, PRNewswire, March 31, 2008
  54. ^ Jump up to: a b SXSW 2013: This revolution is brought to you by..., Hamdan Azhar, Washington Post ideas@innovations blog, March 11, 2013
  55. Jump up ^ SXSW Interactive: A Growing Outlet For Video Games, Matt Clark, iQU', March 14, 2012
  56. Jump up ^ At South by Southwest, fewer startups, more marketers and media, Gerry Shih, Reuters, March 11, 2013
  57. Jump up ^ "The unlikely star of SXSW: Grumpy Cat". CNN.com. 2011-11-14. Retrieved 2013-03-11. 
  58. Jump up ^ March 11, 2013, 5:54 PM. "As SXSW Interactive winds down, Grumpy cat is clear winner". CBS News. Retrieved 2013-03-13. 
  59. Jump up ^ Terdiman, Daniel (2013-01-23). "If Grumpy Cat is the biggest news of all, is SXSW in trouble? | SXSW - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-03-13. 
  60. Jump up ^ "Report: SXSW’s 2012 economic impact was $190 million". Austin American Statesman. Retrieved 1 April 2013. 
  61. Jump up ^ Tech may have found its next SXSW, John Patrick Pullen, CNNMoney, August 28, 2012
  62. Jump up ^ Go West (by Southwest), young band, Polly Higgins, Tucson Citizen, March 9, 2006

External links[edit]

Portal iconAustin portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to South by Southwest.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)