The thing about SXSW. The time of year. The outdoors. I know for ME, in the past, my allergies flared up big time. So you would have had a ton of congested peeps out there coughing and sneezing, freaking everyone out.
so sxsw is NOT refunding wristbands. they will be credited for 2021. people are going to be rightfully pissed, but i dont know that they even have the money to refund. i also read an article talking about how sxsw is in legitimate danger of being put out of business by this. and as of tonight they have laid off 1/3 of their 175 full-time employees. something similar happened to psychfest. they got rained out and had a whole weekend cancelled due to threat of severe weather. they were never able to recover from that and the festival went under. read the bold part - the layoffs happened in the music sector. its been coming for awhile, but this might be a move to stop doing music all together and just focus on tech and film. its been obvious the last few years that the music is less and less important. especially when they have to compete with a bazillion free shows. http://austin.culturemap.com/news/c...ter-festival-is-canceled-by-austin-officials/ Three days after its flagship 10-day festival was canceled by city officials, SXSW has begun layoffs. On Monday, March 9, the company, which is headquartered on Lavaca Street in downtown Austin, laid off about 30 percent of its employees, most of whom are reportedly in the SXSW Music sector. “Due to the City of Austin’s unprecedented and unexpected cancellation of the SXSW 2020 events in March, SXSW has been rigorously reviewing our operations, and we are in the unimaginable position of reducing our workforce. Today we said goodbye to approximately one-third of our full-time staff.” "Those of us in the business of live events know the level of trust required to execute an event of SXSW’s scale, and we are deeply sad to let people go this soon. We are planning for the future and this was a necessary, but heartbreaking step.”
sorry for bad format, but its not a free article. someone copy/pasted it in reddit. what an absolute clusterf***! people complain about the corporatization of sxsw and how its not the underground music festival it once was, but theres a lot of people who were expecting to be working their asses off right now and instead lost their jobs. https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-by-southwest-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-cancellation-11583711311 The chief executive of South by Southwest said organizers are unsure how they will keep the festival going after the city canceled it because of the novel coronavirus, which he said could cost them millions. Austin officials on Friday pulled the plug on the tech, music and movie event, citing the threat of the coronavirus outbreak. The move dealt a devastating blow to the finances of the festival, whose insurance doesn’t cover disease-related cancellations, South by Southwest co-founder and Chief Executive Roland Swenson said in an interview Sunday. Mr. Swenson stressed that organizers have every intention of continuing South by Southwest, or SXSW, which has taken place every year since its founding in 1987. But he said organizers were trying to assess how much funding it would lose as a result of the cancellation and were concerned it could run in the tens of millions of dollars. “I am most worried about my people and what this means for their future, and I don’t know what that is yet,” Mr. Swenson said. “We are planning to carry on and do another event in 2021, but how we’re going to do that I’m not entirely sure.” South by Southwest has grown from a local music festival into a major global event, bringing hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to Austin and pumping some $355 million into its economy, festival organizers estimate. The cancellation of this year’s event, set to start March 13, has left organizers scrambling to reload and send back semi-trucks of supplies, take down banners and signage and halt travel plans for speakers and attendees world-wide. “A lot of us are still in denial, as we try to stop this freight train,” Mr. Swenson said. Though it hurts, Mr. Swenson said he agreed with the city’s call that going forward with the festival, known as “Southby” locally, would be too high of a risk for the city. Mayor Steve Adler on Friday issued the disaster declaration based on advice from medical experts, who said the risk of an outbreak was too high, given the festival’s high attendance and visitors—many from places where the virus is spreading rapidly. The move came just two days after city officials said the event would go on as planned. South by Southwest, which has 175 year-round employees, will have to find additional sources of income to keep from running out of money by summer, Mr. Swenson said. Leaders are finding out how much debt they can take out and whether any grants are available, he said. The festival has hundreds—possibly more than a thousand—individual contracts with sponsors, vendors, venues, artists and others, Mr. Swenson said. Lawyers are poring over the fine print of each one, but insurance will likely not cover the cancellation, Mr. Swenson said, an additional blow. “We’ve had to show our insurance policy to all kinds of people, and nobody ever said, ‘Hey, there’s a big hole here,’” he said. “We did not anticipate a pandemic. We’d always taken the attitude of, ‘Well, we’ll never cancel, so that’s not going to be an issue.’” Organizers are exploring the possibility of rescheduling sometime this year—a complicated prospect given the festival’s scope, Mr. Swenson said. They should know within a few weeks whether that’s a feasible option, he said. Meanwhile, sponsors and those who paid for badges to attend festival events are being offered credits, not refunds, for another year. Mr. Swenson is determined that South by Southwest will continue. “Our stated business goal has always been to help creative people achieve their goals, so that’s what we’re working on now,” he said.
LOL, "wristbands". Nobody gives a **** at this point. Next year will go on just like always, once this is over all yall go to Austin and spend a bit extra money in the places you would have spent it during SXSW.
hmm...i would think the people who paid for them would give a ***. i wouldnt be so sure at this point. im already in austin. been here 25 years. and ill be doing free shows next week. playing three times and going to see as much music as i can.
I know it's a killer for many places the depended on SX revenue. (I don't care about 6th st bars) All I was saying is that after this stuff is over, people need to (and will) come to ATX and spend their money. It'll happen.
Funny how SXSW wants to send back supplies and reneg on their contracts but won't do the same for those who gave them money. Vendors shouldn't refund SXSW and instead allow SXSW to have a credit for 2021.
We should have a 99ers convention get some top music acts 99ers and friends of the 99ers and family members of the 99ers
Rodeo about to shut down https://www.chron.com/news/houston-...Bd1cmyBGN_MwlPGMDKxGX5OVfy_MaAGhHZSG7J9YWeiIw
