SXSW 2011: A Festival Within A Festival

In a Shakespearean twist, 2011’s South By Southwest Music seemed like a festival within a festival.

2011 saw the official launch of a two-hour documentary that chronicled the history of the festival and conference. The film’s director Alan Berg recently pointed out what a shrewd move creating the interactive portion of the festival was. This year’s interactive attendance was up a whopping 30 percent over 2010. From that statistic, and the seemingly-flatlined attendance at the music conference, you can insinuate a lot about who is taking control over the music space.

On a panel with members from the music media, several editors pointed out the “signal to noise” ratio at the event. How can anyone make sense of all the hype and hysteria and successfully search out the worthy acts? While that overdrive has always been present at the festival – and in many ways is its very raison d’etre – it seems that the noise is actually escalating year over year.

In the wake of the sluggish music conference comes a steep increase in usually-free (or free-with-RSVP) day parties, which are not officially connected to SXSW, though the event organizers generally host official SXSW showcase at night. In the documentary, SXSW co-founder and President Roland Swenson told Berg that his organization is closely watching these day parties, which they refer to as “parasites.” It’s an interesting relationship between the official organization, local venues, and major showcase sponsors like Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, and The Windish Agency, who all hosted unofficial day parties in addition to official events.

The 1990s witnessed a major explosion in major label acts at SXSW. While the major’s fortunes – and ability to bankroll emerging artists – has subsided considerably, there were still official showcases from labels like Columbia, Warner and Atlantic, who have signed acts like Cults, Theophilus London and Wiz Kalifa that still attract indie audiences.

A major development in the South By lexicon of place names is Austin’s east side. While “east” streets technically begin east of Congress, crossing over I-35 is, as Todd Snider might say, like crossing over to a state of mind. Pitchfork’s #Offline festival had strong lineups for two stages on Thursday and Friday. Located at the East Side Drive-In, just a few blocks from the popular Fader Fort, #Offline was hot and dusty with little shade, but the free event had a relaxed outdoor atmosphere, nonetheless, and with its food vendors felt like mini-versions of Bonnaroo or New Orlean’s Jazz Fest.

Every year, South By Southwest balances the many unknown and emerging artists who flock to the festival with a few major headliners. This year, Auditorium Shores, a large outdoor stage on the south side of Lady Bird Lake, hosted sets by The Strokes and Bright Eyes. There was also a little showcase at the Seaholm Power Plant on Saturday night, presented by Chevy and Vevo, featuring the all-star cast of Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Mos Def, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and a surprise guest appearance by Jay-Z.

Even with huge outdoor concerts and intimate hotel room shows, there’s still plenty of room left in the middle for the rest of us at SXSW.

For coverage of American Songwriter‘s 2011 day party with Billy Reid and K-Swiss, visit:

Inside The Billy Reid Shindig w/ Hayes Carll, Civil Wars, Jessica Lea Mayfield
Shutter: Billy Reid SXSW Shindig
Watch: The Civil Wars Live At The SXSW Billy Reid Shindig
Watch: Jessica Lea Mayfield Live At The SXSW Billy Reid Shindig
Watch: Caitlin Rose, “Own Side Now” Live At SXSW

For our American Songwriter’s complete daily coverage of the festival, see below:

SXSW Conference: Breaking News In The Digital Age
SXSW Wednesday: Hayes Carll, Alessi’s Ark, James Blake
SXSW Thursday: The Strokes, Robert Ellis, Lia Ices, Toro Y Moi
SXSW Friday: TV On The Radio, Puro Instinct, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

Streams from festival performances are also available via sxsw.com/music/live.