Hustling at SXSW

It’s taken a while, but Australians have finally latched onto the sport that is South By Southwest, which runs until the end of this week in Austin, Texas. In the media over the coming days, there’ll be commentary of which Australian bands are showcasing at which events; the bands who drew the biggest crowds, and rumours (or just fictionalised gossip) about the deals that have been brokered with touring agencies, management and labels. Within the Australian ‘music industry’, there’ll be talk of which international industry ‘career-makers’ showed their faces at Australian events and probably even more talk about which botoxed old bands’ gigs Australian attendees managed to blag their way into. (The top names on that hit-list this year seem to be Motörhead, playing tonight at 10.30pm, Hole at 1am on Friday and Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin and his band Bolts Of Melody on Saturday at 1am, though maybe that’s just my own personal fantasy week with the leather daddies, the tranny and the bear.)

Because of the realisation that a music conference can be turned into a competitive display of patriotism, SXSW now attracts coverage across mainstream media in Australia. It’s almost surprising that Eddie McGuire hasn’t been sent over this year to supply some ripping commentary on acts who haven’t left anything in the locker room. After all, the Scissor Sisters are headlining the Village Voice Media showcase.

This coverage, however, hasn’t transpired into much assistance in getting Australian bands over to Texas to represent our country. Aside from acts who can acquire government grants (the process of which, perhaps rightly, often has little to do with an act’s creative endeavours), there’s little monetary help for bands wishing to go sleep with international stars while high on crack. In other words, it’s nothing like the Olympics, the stars of which get help from income distribution from the Australian Olympic Committee, committed government grants and various corporate sponsorship and licensing deals (which Aussie SXSW showcases could certainly benefit from – there’s no doubt interest in televised coverage of the Aussie BBQ or of specific bands’ US showcase tours.)

All this means that, of the Australian acts who get officially invited (as acts must) to play at SXSW, there are still many who can’t attend. And if you’re wondering how much it costs for a band to go over and showcase in Austin, as well as the necessary East and West Coast showcase follow-ups, a known Aussie trio a couple of years ago borrowed upwards of $40,000 from their record label to do so, and they got something tangible out of the experience, which is more than can be said for many bands who make the trip.

Without this kind of funding, however, there are still largely unexplored platforms for Australian acts to get the dosh they need to get to the conference. One of these platforms is, in fact, the topic of discussion at one of the many music panels taking place at this year’s SXSW, titled Crowdfunding Music: Raising Money From Your Fans. The panel is being presented by a panel of folk well versed in digital marketing and licensing, perhaps the most interesting being Yancey Strickler, who co-founded the Brooklyn-based KickStarter site.

KickStarter allows people involved in all sorts of creative ventures to float their ideas on the site and ask for fans, friends and other interested parties to donate money to aid the venture’s development and execution. A monetary target must be set and when the donations reach that target, all those who’ve donated must pony up the dough. Another presenter on the panel is a songwriter named Allison Weiss, who through KickStarter successfully gained over $7,000 to record an EP. (Though, in my opinion, the greatest project asking for funding through the site is a film exploring the cultural impact of Calvin & Hobbes, which has already received $22,000 in donations.)

It’s a user-pays system, the concept of which many in the ‘music industry’ are pretty down-mouthed about in the current climate, but I think the general premise could have legs, especially when it comes to backing a band going overseas to represent the country. It would be like betting on sport, and who in our pie-groping nation doesn’t like that?

The pay-off could be exclusive content packages delivered by the band from their tour, progress updates, personalised messages or, as Santa Cruz band Camper Van Beethoven are doing at SXSW this year, getting a derby girl to continuously roller skate across the stage with placards bearing the name of the people or companies who donated money to get them there.