‘Totally different beast.' Austin musicians worry about industry amid SXSW changes

Yahoo

08-05-2025

In the Live Music Capital of the World, a harsh reality hits a high note: some music industry workers say they're underpaid by SXSW — one of the largest festivals of its kind. While the event claims to pump hundreds of millions into Austin's economy each year, KXAN investigates the striking gap between SXSW's financial effect on the community and the paychecks of those who help make it happen.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Aaron Lack stood on the corner of 10th and Red River Streets on the final Friday of South by Southwest, handing out flyers and surveys to passersby to share information about the local musicians' union.
'Our work is basically erased for two weeks,' he said, explaining the impact of SXSW on the local music industry. Lack is the president of the Austin Federation of Musicians, or AFM, and has only ever pursued a career in music.
Though it was sunny and nearly 90 degrees in the late afternoon Texas sun, Lack and several AFM members felt it important to have a presence in an area highly trafficked by musicians and music fans during SXSW. They spent several hours Friday and Saturday afternoons leafleting in the area to let people know about AFM – the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians of the U.S. and Canada – and to oppose working conditions for musicians playing the festival.
'Musicians are given the choice between a very low compensation or they can have access to the rest of the festival that they're playing at,' Lack said, referring to the option for them to get a SXSW badge. 'And no other festival does that.'
According to James Minor, Former Vice President of the SXSW Music Festival, about 5,000-7,000 artists apply to play each year, and around 1,000 artists are accepted. Of those, between 85-90% of showcasing artists choose the badge over the payment option. International artists are unable to take the payment option because of visa restrictions and 'due to the fact that SXSW is a showcase festival and industry event,' per Minor. SXSW emphasized there are more benefits to playing the festival than just money.
SXSW values its festival badge at $995 each.
If domestic artists chose monetary compensation rather than the badge in 2025, they received $400 in total for full bands consisting of three or more performers, or $175 for a solo/duo act, according to the SXSW website.
For comparison, the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which occurs over two weekends at Zilker Park each fall, provides performing artists with entry wristbands and monetary compensation. The latest released economic impact study for ACL, which was published this week and breaks down details of the 2024 fest, said the event contributed $534.8 million to the Austin economy. Over 140 artists from around the world performed that year. The 2024 report didn't specify how much artists and performers made, but the 2023 report listed it as $28.1 million.
An Austin-based musician and AFM member said they want SXSW to 'consider doing what other festivals like ACL do, which is pay union scale.' KXAN reached out to C3 Presents, the event management company behind the Austin City Limits Music Festival, to confirm if it uses a union pay scale for festival performers, but we did not receive a response, and information on the musician rates for ACL performers is not publicly available.
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Headliners at another major spring-time music festival, Coachella, can demand around $5 million per weekend, totaling $10 million for the two weekends. That's according to Dave Brooks, senior director of live music and touring at Billboard. He revealed the profitability when he appeared as a guest on a podcast to discuss the California music fest and the landscape of music festivals in general. Coachella does not publicly disclose whether it pays union-scale wages.
KXAN reviewed the last five economic impact reports SXSW released. Using the lower end of the numbers provided by Minor, if 85% – or 860 – of the 1,012 official SXSW artists for 2025 chose the badge rather than pay, then only 152 opted for cash. If all 152 of those were a solo/duo act, that would amount to $26,600 paid to performers. If all were bands of three or more members, that'd add up to $60,800.
Performances through the city of Austin and various sponsors or venues can also add up to a bigger paycheck for SXSW musicians, depending on which showcase or event they're tapped to play.
Rolling Stone and Billboard both confirmed they set their own rates for musicians who play their SXSW showcases, which in recent years have become two of the biggest events during the music festival. Rolling Stone said in an event recap last year that its 2024 showcase drew in 12,500 attendees, but nearly 40,000 in total RSVP'd. According to event statistics from SXSW, the 2024 Billboard event garnered nearly 11,000 attendees over three days, even with inclement weather.
Notably, both brands are subsidiaries of Penske Media Corporation, which in 2021 became a majority shareholder of SXSW. We asked what their budgets were to pay musicians, but spokespeople for both brands declined to disclose a specific number.
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As for SXSW events co-sponsored by the city of Austin, musicians performing at free and open-to-the-public events that take place on public property receive the city's standard musician pay rate.
The city's pay rates are:
$200 per musician for groups of up to six people
$150 per musician for groups between seven and 10 people
$1,500 total for groups of musicians of 10 or more
SXSW requires artists who wish to play as official acts to fill out an application and pay a fee. Standard artist application fees for SXSW 2025 were $35 for regular entry and $75 for late entry, according to the SXSW website.
Using Minor's estimate of 5,000-7,000 artists who applied this year, SXSW made somewhere between $175,000-$525,000 on artist applications. Previous SXSW President and Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest said that money goes toward paying the people who review the applications, but did not specify how many people in total are tasked with that or how much they're paid.
Other festivals handle their artist booking differently. For example, neither Coachella nor ACL has public artist applications, instead relying on talent management to reach out, or booking agents scouting up-and-coming musicians.
'We are an industry event that has a consumer component. Industry event being the panels, presentations, trade show…' Forrest said. 'ACL calls itself a festival, we call ourselves a festival, but they're different — they're fundamentally different things.'
While abstaining from the festival or choosing not to apply for it is an option for musicians, Lack said that because of the widespread impact of SXSW, he and other Austin-based musicians feel they must participate in some way or another.
'Every single year, all of us do something during this festival, because it takes over the whole city, and we really have no option other than to try to capitalize on it somehow,' Lack said. 'We work as side musicians for traveling acts, we rent out our equipment, we act as sound personnel. Some of us rent out our houses… Everything to try to make up for all the lost income during these two weeks.'
Lack explained that because the majority of venues and places musicians work are occupied by SXSW-related events, regular gigs that might pay more are 'basically canceled.'
Forrest said because it's an industry event and an opportunity for exposure, musicians and bands can gain more from SXSW than just monetary compensation.
'How many bands that we have apply is indicative that bands understand they can get value out of this thing,' Forrest said. 'It may not be that they walk off stage and they get a, you know, major label recording deal, but they can make incremental contacts – networking connections that can help take their career to the next level. And that's what we've always done at South by Southwest, and will continue to do, and I think that's, again, a very valuable asset for this community.'
SXSW said it brings in hundreds of millions of dollars into the Austin economy each year. Its 2024 economic impact report stated its festival that year had a $377.3 million impact on the local economy. The report said that includes participants' spending at restaurants, hotels, music venues, theatres, and more. But it also mentioned partners spending money on curating marketing activations and brand presence during the festival, and SXSW's own year-round staffing and infrastructure.
'There has been a lot of misinformation that the economic impact study – means that South By Southwest is pulling in 370 million out of the event. I would love it if we were pulling in that much money. We certainly are not,' Forrest said
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SXSW didn't provide specific answers to our questions about the numbers, and it's unclear how much SXSW profits because it is an LLC, and its earnings are not public information.
When it comes to direct positive impacts for local musicians and employees within the music and entertainment industry, the report is vague.
SXSW touts generating money for the City of Austin's Hotel Occupancy Tax, which funds local tourism and community initiatives, including the city's Live Music Fund. The fund is a grant program that supports professional musicians and independent promoters with $15,000 or $30,000 grant awards and Live Music Venues with $30,000 or $60,000 grant awards, according to the city's Music and Entertainment office. Those grant amounts for musicians increased in 2024 from $5,000 and $10,000.
Under the Hotel Occupancy Tax Allocation section of the SXSW economic impact report, the information suggests that all the tax funds collected through SXSW direct hotel bookings went solely to the Live Music Fund. However, the city code on Hotel Occupancy tax says that only a percentage of Hotel Occupancy tax collections is designated for that fund.
The City of Austin's hotel occupancy tax rate is 11%. Of that, 2% goes toward the construction and expansion of the existing Austin Convention Center facility, and 15% of that dedicated 2% goes to the Live Music Fund, according to city code.
The economic impact report stated direct hotel bookings through SXSW raised nearly $2.3 million in hotel occupancy tax.
'SXSW generates enough taxes through direct bookings alone to fund more than 450 grants in 2024,' the report stated, using the old $5,000 grant amount to make that calculation.
KXAN crunched the numbers, too, and found the report's calculation didn't take into account that only a portion of the hotel occupancy tax goes toward the Live Music Fund. If there were 450 grants of $5,000 each, that would've totaled out to $2.25 million, implying that essentially all of that tax money was allocated to the fund, when only 15% of 2% of the $2.3 million would have been, per city code.
KXAN reached out to Greyhill Advisors, the group that puts together the reports, to ask for clarity.
'In the report (2024), we state that the total HOT taxes to the City that SXSW generates is $2.3M,' a partner with Greyhill Advisors said over email. 'Then, yes, we make a theoretical comparison: this $2.3M is able to fund 450 grants of $5,000 each.'
'The claim is not what the City actually does with the HOT tax dollars they receive, rather it is that with these dollars it receives, the city could (if it chose to) fund 450 grants through its Live Music Fund,' Greyhill Advisors continued.
READ: Austin City Code
DATA: HOT collections that went to the Live Music Fund
KXAN, through a records request, obtained a document from Austin's Live Music Commission that breaks down the Hotel Occupancy Tax collections allocated to the Live Music Fund. It shows that in March 2024, $781,775 went to the fund. The commission presented that breakdown at its regular meeting on June 3, 2024.
Matt Patton, Executive Vice President of Angelou Economics, which puts together economic impact studies for ACL, explained the process of generating economic impact reports and studies.
Patton said that when Angelou Economics builds an economic impact study for a live event, it relies on two main data points: operating expenses and attendee spending. Operating expenses are how much it costs an event operator to produce the event; that can include anything from the cost of food, transportation, or security, to paying contractors to build stages, etc. Those numbers come directly from the event operator. Attendee spending is pretty self-explanatory: what event attendees spent while in town. Angelou relies on surveys to gather information about travel, lodging, transportation, and food and beverage purchases.
Patton explained Angelou uses a modeling software called IMPLAN that uses input-output analysis to calculate the impacts of an event on a region's economy. Greyhill Advisors uses the same software to arrive at the overall impact of SXSW.
According to IMPLAN, the 'foundational concept' of the input-output modeling technique is that 'all industries, households, and government in the economy are connected through buy-sell relationships; therefore, a given economic activity supports a ripple of additional economic activity throughout the economy.'
Greyhill uses IMPLAN to analyze what it called 'an exhaustive data collection process' to understand how attendees, SXSW and its exhibitors and sponsors spend money, and how the impact 'flows through the Austin economy.'
One of the challenges Patton noted is accounting for spending leakage that occurs during a live event. Leakage is money that is spent in a region but ends up elsewhere because the region doesn't have the specific industry that money was spent on.
Patton said the exact amount of money leaking out of a local economy is unknown. He said it boils down to an individual business plan and how much money is expected to go back to the business's parent company.
'There are differences, then, that can emerge. In an impact study, we could have two different numbers, potentially the local impact and then the total impact. So if there are leakages… then the overall impact is going to be higher than what we would report just for Travis County,' Patton said. 'Because not all of that money stays locally.'
Patton noted that part of the momentum and appeal of the Austin economy is the fact that there are unique live events that have a global reach. He said that while brand recognition is powerful, it's hard to measure and translate into monetary value.
For Lack and other musicians, like Stephanie Bergara, the economic benefits created by SXSW are less equitable and tangible compared to what businesses like bars, restaurants and hotels experience.
Bergara is a lifelong Austinite and musician who previously worked for the city's Music Office to establish the city's standard pay rate for musicians. She's a huge fan of SXSW — 'I always say that dreams can come true doing South By Southwest' — but said she has had to turn down some offers to play the festival because the pay isn't enough.
'Before I was kind of involved in the industry, I looked at it as like a thing that was for musicians, and it was a bunch of concerts,' Bergara said, 'and now, in 2025, post-pandemic, pre-reconstruction of the convention center, it is a totally different beast.'
Lack explained SXSW influences the landscape of the local music industry for local working musicians during and after the event period. For example, he said musicians have had post-festival gigs canceled because of noise violations at venues during SXSW. Overall, SXSW sets a standard in the music industry for the rest of the year, Lack said.
'The ramifications go throughout the whole year. It makes it more difficult for us to negotiate our pay with our employers the rest of the year because of this one week where everyone else makes a significant part of their budget for the whole year, but not the musicians,' Lack said.
Lack called the pay for official SXSW musicians 'outrageously low,' even after SXSW implemented pay increases over the last few years. He called those increases 'concessionary.'
SXSW said it has increased artist pay by 75% for solo and duo artists and 60% for bands over the last two years, and that it's a 'process,' and 'something that we review year over year.'
Over those two years, SXSW pay for bands increased by $250 and solo/duo artists' by $75.
In 2023, SXSW agreed to raise pay rates for eligible bands from $250 to $350 for the 2024 festival, and raised solo artist rates from $100 to $150. That came after a national musicians' union – United Musicians and Allied Workers, or UMAW – launched a 'Fair Pay at SXSW' campaign.
SXSW again raised rates in 2024 for the 2025 fest. Bands' pay went from $350 to $400, and solo/duo artists' from $150 to $175.
The AFM has been working with UMAW for several years to advocate for better working conditions and higher compensation from SXSW, according to Lack. He said they're in a 'constant state of reaching out' to SXSW, but leadership hasn't responded or recognized the union.
'We'd like to negotiate with them by using the power of the collective — of all the musicians that play at South By, and they have not recognized our union, or even talked to us seriously about negotiating what would come next,' Lack said.
KXAN asked Forrest at SXSW about musicians trying to reach out about compensation.
'South By has increased [pay] incrementally over the last couple years, but national and local unions say it's still not enough, or that South By isn't cooperating or listening,' KXAN's Abigail Jones said. 'Why is that?'
'That is their role to push for higher pay,' Forrest replied. 'I think that, fundamentally, you know, our mission statement is South by Southwest helps creative people to achieve their goals. We want to, long term, be able to get more compensation for these artists that are the lifeblood of South by Southwest. We maybe can't get there as quickly as they would like us to get there, but we will get there eventually.'
Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, an organizer with UMAW, helped launch the 'Fair Pay at SXSW' campaign in 2023, calling for:
Increasing compensation for performers to at least $750
A festival wristband in addition to financial compensation
Pay parity for domestic and international performers
An end to application fees for performers
The group later added 'No Warmongers at SXSW' to its list of demands, asking for a permanent end to war industry involvement in 'any and all editions of SXSW.' That came after backlash sparked over the fact that the U.S. Army was a 'super sponsor' of the event in 2024. SXSW later announced it was 'revising its sponsorship model' for 2025 and that the Army and companies that engage in weapons manufacturing would not be sponsors again.
Musicians' union launches 'Fair Pay' campaign against SXSW, says artists paid as low as $100
DeFrancesco added that the festival has 'still not met our demands for how much we feel is fair for bands, has still not met our demands for getting rid of things like the application fee,' he said. 'So yeah, we're back here again this third year, celebrating some of those wins through South By the last couple years, but still asking more.'
That's also why Lack returns to SXSW to leaflet for the AFM each year. He believes that a collective effort among musicians, like the union, is the only way forward.
According to Every Texan, a non-partisan, nonprofit policy institute, all workers have the right to join a union, even in 'right-to-work' states like Texas. Every Texan is a nonprofit organization that 'researches, analyzes, and advocates for public policies to expand equitable access to quality health care, food security, education, and good jobs,' its website states.
Texas law addresses labor union and right-to-work laws in its labor code under Title 3, Chapter 101.
The law states that 'All persons engaged in any kind of labor may associate and form trade unions and other organizations to protect themselves in their personal labor in their respective employment.' It also says that 'a person may not be denied employment based on membership or nonmembership in a labor union.'
Austin Kaplan, the founder and managing attorney at Kaplan Law Firm, and an employment law and civil rights attorney and litigator, believes collective efforts like unions could create change, but he also explained the challenges and potential downfalls of approaching the matter from that standpoint.
'I'm a lawyer, so my thought is always, go to court, but sometimes that's not the most efficient way to get something accomplished,' Kaplan said. 'If all the musicians were able to band together and demand better pay, that would go a long way, I think, to solving the problem. The challenge is, the bands don't know each other. These are undiscovered bands from all over the world, and so how do you band them together?'
Lack brought that point up in a separate conversation, affirming that is one of the big obstacles AFM faces when it comes to trying to get to a point of collective bargaining.
'The workers that we're talking about, the musicians, come in from all over the world, and they're not the same. Every year, it's different,' he said. 'So, trying to get in touch with them is a challenge as well.'
Another challenge: SXSW musicians are not employees of the company. They're treated as independent contractors, which Kaplan said have very few legal protections in Texas, other than 'you get what you agree to receive.'
'South By Southwest's model is pretty interesting in terms of how they pay musicians and how they pay their volunteers over the years,' Kaplan said. 'You know, the amount of work that they're getting out of people almost certainly doesn't amount to the minimum wage, which is just $7.25 an hour, but folks are spending tons of hours providing services to the company, as I understand.'
Kaplan said musicians could choose to challenge the pay structure through the legal process if they could make a good case surrounding whether they should be treated more like employees or contractors, but he's not aware of any 'legal cause of action' that has been filed. But he added that he thinks if musicians' unions can get enough people organized, leveraging group action and bringing collective demands to SXSW could work.
For Lack, that is the next step.
'We move forward the way that we've always moved forward, which is building solidarity together amongst musicians and building that musician power. That's how it has to move forward,' he said. 'Musicians have the power here. There's way more of us than any other exhibitor at this festival, and we are not exhibitors, we're actually working at this festival. So the musicians have the power to do this, it's just getting together and building that power and making it manifest into one direction to make things better.'
Forrest said meeting the demands of the unions would be 'a largely different business model,' but also said the increases that have been implemented have been 'well received' by the community.
'Exposure… means that you're showcasing your talent, your creativity, your vision, to people who can help take that vision to the next level. That's what we've done. That's what's been successful for 35 years. And I think that will be successful moving forward.,' Forrest said.
Forrest no longer works at SXSW, after leadership changes were made in late April.
Hugh Forrest no longer leading SXSW
KXAN reached out to spokespeople at SXSW and Penske Media Corporation, SXSW's parent company, for further details on the leadership change, and whether raising musician pay or negotiating with the union would carry over as a priority to the new leadership team. We will update this story when we receive a response.
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