Unlocking the Mystery of SXSW: Understanding Austin’s Iconic Festival

SXSW is a distinct festival with official and unofficial events intertwined. It’s a non-stop twenty-four-hour celebration that fills every corner of the city, blending festival vibes with conference networking and a Spring Break atmosphere. This event embodies Austin, serving as both a cultural hallmark and an economic powerhouse. In 2019 alone, SXSW injected $355.9 million into the community, making it indispensable for the city’s service industry. Most of the bars, restaurants, and coffee shops in the downtown area rely on this annual revenue stream and it is in large part due to the festival that Austin supports such a robust entertainment industry.

First Impressions: Introduction to SXSW

My first exposure to SXSW was in 1999. I was eighteen years old, studying journalism at the University of Texas and working at a shot bar on Sixth Street. I noticed a bunch of SXSW signs popping up in the windows of surrounding bars. When I checked our storage room I found it was overflowing with an obscene amount of liquor. My first move was to ask the seasoned bartenders what was going on, but they just told me to stop saying “S-X-S-W” and start saying South by Southwest. Other than that, the advice was, “wait and see.” So I did.

Our bar didn’t participate in the official event, but we did host a festival that consisted of heavy metal bands playing all day in a narrow brick bar. The most surprising aspect was how elderly the patrons were. Our typical clientele were nineteen-year-old sorority girls, and it was jarring to see the place filled with this crowd. These geriatrics appeared to be in their thirties, and some of them might have been over forty.

Not only were they old, they were drinking like Vikings who just made landfall. This wasn’t day drinking or night drinking; it was both. Despite the ear-shattering music, the bar was filled from the time we unlocked the doors until we shouted last call. While my peers were in Cozumel shooting girls-gone-wild videos, I spent my spring break working sixteen-hour shifts. It was grueling work, but by the end of the week I had accumulated the largest pile of cash I’d ever possessed.

I’ve been out of the bartending game for nearly twenty years now and have had plenty of opportunities to enjoy the festival rather than work it. I eventually found the answer to the question I asked back in 1999.

What is SXSW?

The first thing to know is that there is official SXSW and “unofficial SXSW”. The two run parallel to each other and, while being distinctly different, are difficult to discern. Official SXSW consists of three distinct festivals: Music; Film; and, Interactive. Unofficial SXSW encompasses everything else.

SXSW Music

SXSW took the traditional model and flipped it on its head. While most festivals are built around headlining acts and the fan experience, the foundation for this festival is unknown artists with a target audience of record label executives. The objective is to take unsigned musicians and expose them to labels in showcase performances, and the festival has been integral in launching the careers of many well-known artists, including John Mayer, Janelle Monáe, Amy Winehouse, Kid Cudi, and M.I.A. The appeal of the festival is the possibility of discovering the next big thing. We still talk about the time in 2007 when an unknown Adele played to an empty room.

SXSW Interactive & Film

The music festival started in 1987, but the Interactive and Film sections didn’t launch until 1994. The interactive portion brings nerds from around the world who want to party and show off the new inventions they’ve been working on. If you wander around downtown for more than an hour, you will find someone who will shove a free drink in your hand and plop a virtual reality helmet on your head. We used to brag about the role SXSW played in the launch of Twitter, but now that Elon Musk has come to town, we are rethinking that narrative.

The film festival is a major event on par with Sundance, Cannes, or the Toronto International Film Festival. Most of the action centers around the Paramount Theatre, where there are red carpet film premieres and A-list parties.

Unofficial SXSW

The official festival is decentralized, with local bars playing host to the showcases and requiring a wristband for entry. This setup creates a citywide block party, with festival attendees wandering between Austin’s entertainment districts. The establishments that are not part of the official festival want to grab a slice of the money pie, and they do this by hosting full day music lineups and day parties that require no wristband for entry.

A citywide block party with international attendees and buzz for days is a marketer’s dream, and corporate America is not going to be left out. Organizers transform every parking lot and empty building into event centers hyping brands, each striving to outdo the others with bigger names, better swag, and more extreme setups. Corporations strive to fulfill the promise of the festival’s aura of anything can happen. A typical stunt involves starting a rumor that the hottest pop star of the moment will make a surprise appearance, then dropping them unannounced in a club they are too big for and letting mayhem ensue.