Artist submissions open early for SXSW 2015
Organisers of next year’s South by Southwest festival are giving artists the chance to plan their trip to Austin over eight months in advance as applications open a day early.
SXSW artist submissions open on July 8.
Of the 72 Australian artists invited to perform in March this year, 51 ‘official’ acts attended the annual music, film, and interactive conference along with six ‘unofficial’ artists. There were 300 shows by Australian acts with 21 performing the Sounds Australia-presented Aussie BBQ in Los Angeles the weekend prior.
The music portion of SXSW is widely considered the best annual tip sheet for the industry. Across 110 venues and five days, the conference boasts more than 2,200 showcases. Our own music market development initiative Sounds Australia produced four showcase events this year (The Aussie BBQ, Sound Gallery I and II and Beat Pie), those events alone resulted in 65 additional performances for Australian artists. Sounds Australia also organised six B2B networking events including the Industry Luncheon, Country Connections (a global speed meetings and round table session), a breakfast panel on the German market and a VIP mixer for the dance community.
Sounds Australia’s Executive Producer Millie Millgate told TMN: “For those acts even contemplating showcasing at SXSW, we’d encourage you to apply early. Not only does it mean you’ll be listened to by fresher ears, it also gives you a greater lead time to prepare your VISA petitions and set up additional performance opportunities.”
SXSW representative Phil Tripp told TMN: “Australia has always punched above its weight in terms of performing artists with close to 10% of the overseas (other than US and Canada) bands invited to play. This is in contrast to the five that played in 2002 when I started. A lot of this is due to SoundsAustralia programs of live shows, a stand presence and on the ground support for our acts as well as AUSTRADE’s early support of export-ready bands and businesses.”
Artists will need to submit their applications via an Electronic Press Kit at Sonicbids, the cost is US$33. The fee rises to US$45 on September 12 and closes October 10, a day earlier than closing time last year. A committee of over 100 evaluators will review each act’s EPK (recordings, bio, videos, website, press releases etc) before choosing.
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Registrations as delegates for SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Fesstivals and Conferences begins August 5 at sxsw.com/attend along with early hotel registrations.
The SXSW 2015 music dates are March 17-22.