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Select a year: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
Australian Music Finds its Alamo on Texan Stages
From The Age. By Andrew Murfett
March 15, 2008
CDs Are Stuck, Live Acts Shining
From The Age. By Andrew Murfett
March 17, 2008
No Guitar or Product is Left Unplugged
From The Age. By Andrew Murfett
March 18, 2008
Australian Accent at World Music Fest
From The Age. By Andrew Murfett
March 18, 2008
2008 showcasing artists | 2008 attendees
Over 40 AustralAsian artists battled against more than 1400 global bands in five nights while more than 250 AustralAsian music business managers, executives and mini-moguls fought for deals among 12,500 peers gathered in Austin Texas last week for South by Southwest--the world's largest music festival, showcase competition, business conference and trade fair in its 21st year.
Backed by the might of the Australian Federal Government AUSTRADE export arm plus the West Australian and NSW arts departments, the 40 bands that made it to Austin were the survivors of a list of 60 invited artists with 20 having to pass up the opportunity due to finance or schedule conflicts. However, the 250 delegates represented the largest contingent of AustralAsian music professionals ever in one place overseas at one time. This was up from only 20 attendees and five bands that attended SxSW in 2002.
The reason for the AustralAsian Invasion was the sheer magnitude of over 1000 global media covering it and looking for the next new thing as well as top record company A&R execs, managers, agents and lawyers digging for the next big thing in music. Australia and New Zealand acts were ripe for the picking and the results will be seen shortly in major and indie label signings as well as booking agency representation or festival appearances overseas.
The top hot band properties at SxSW were Dallas Crane, Expatriate, Children Collide, Panda Band, The Gear, and Airbourne, with their managers Daniel Caneva, Liz O'Grady, Rae Harvey, Scott Adam, Patrick O'Rourke and Gregg Donovan in attendance and fielding offers. Self managed artists Andrew Winton from WA and Future Native from Brisbane appeared to be winners due to their exhaustive series of shows both official and at parties or special events.
Also jockeying for deals were top execs from Warner, Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal, Shock and Mushroom as well as indie labels owners, promoters such as Peter Noble (BluesFest), Viv Lees (Big Day Out) and A J Maddah (KMW) scouting for talent to bring to Australia. In addition, media from Australia included MTV's five person team, four from Rirrakay, three from the Seven Network, writers from The Age, News Limited, West Australian, Inpress/Drum Media and a journalist from the ABC and Triple J.
The Australians received top media attention from overseas too with CBS national TV Network sending a crew to Austin to cover the bands and business people invading the US which lead to coverage by the Ten Network in Sydney as well as affiliates around the US and the national evening news. Thousands of column inches in mainstream newspapers and music magazines also accumulated due to the PR job that AUSTRADE had accomplished well in advance.
2007 showcasing artists | 2007 attendees
The Who's who of music head for Southwest
by Andrew Murfett of The Age
March 15, 2007
South by Southwest Coverage
by Andrew Murfett of The Age
February 3, 2007
Sticky Carpet--Aussie barbie in Austin
by Andrew Murfett of The Age
January 26, 2007
Out of a record 54 Australian & New Zealand music artists invited (from the 440 who applied) to showcase at the 20th annual South by Southwest Music Festival & Conferences from March 15-19 2006 in Austin Texas, 33 acts appeared among 1300 others at the world's largest and most prestigious music event. It's an eightfold increase in OZ & NZ artists performing over 2002's SXSW and the registrations are also eight times 2002.
2006 showcasing artists | 2006 attendees
A 20 minute video presentation by Austrade from 2006's SXSW is now online in six easily downloadable video podcasts at http://www.roocast.com/sxsw2006.
The 2005 edition of SXSW was a roaring success for Australian and New Zealand registrants and artists with a six fold increase of attendees (Australia 150, NZ 30) over 2002. The Australians @ SXSW stand had 35 participants and the Australian Music Collective BBQ Concert had 18 artists play plus the Australian Music Guide had 15,000 copies of its free 32 page newspaper distributed to all 10,000+ registrants and throughout key retail outlets in Austin.
For those artists wanting to submit their interest for showcasing at SXSW 2006, applications begin on the www.sxsw.com site now. This year over 300 Australian and NZ artists applied to showcase, 30 Australian acts were invited (17 accepted) 10 Kiwi bands were asked (6 played) and they were competing against over 7500 artists in total from around the world who ended up being 1200 showcases in 58 venues over five days. WE DO NOT ACCEPT ARTIST SUBMISSIONS THROUGH THE AUSTRALIAN SITE NOR AT THE NEWTOWN SXSW OFFICE--THEY MUST BE MADE VIA THE AUSTIN HEAD OFFICE.
For those who want to attend SXSW in 2006 as registrants, we are happy to provide information, brochures, registration forms and other details, however all registrations can be done online at www.sxsw.com and all payments or forms need to be sent to the Austin head office after that date. We anticipate that Australia will have over 200 attendees and NZ over 50 in 2006.
For travel packages, we advise using our official agent Brad Thomas at The Travel Bureau (brad@travelbureau.com.au) who has handled airfares and freight for the past two years, attended himself and can arrange onward packages. Hotels should be arranged at time of registration off the www.sxsw.com site.
For those of you who want information on the 2005 experience, the articles below (and video) can give you a taste of what happens at SXSW as well as pointers to utilise the event for all ranges of business.
PHIL TRIPP--Your SXSW representative for Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii
Text with video from Undercover
SXSW A Hit for Australia (with video of Phil Tripp & Austrade's Geoff Gray)
From Undercover.com.au
Austrade Commits Further Assistance to Australian Bands
(with video of Austrade's Geoff Gray)
From Undercover.com.au
John Watson Showcases Three Acts At SXSW (with video)
From Undercover.com.au
Articles
Globalised SXSW Still Asserts it Independnet Roots
From Amusement Business
SXSW Dances Around Industry Woes
From Hollywood Reporter
Another Big Thang for Texas
From The Age
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
(a piece on Federal and State government support by Jane Rocca who attended this year and last)
From The Age newspaper
TV Coverage
Australian Artists Shine at SXSW Festival
From ABC News Online
But below we have links to interesting articles on the event for your perusal: