WEEKEND READ: South By Southwest highlights

As South by Southwest in Austin comes to a close Sunday, here are some highlights from this past week.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As South by Southwest in Austin comes to a close Sunday, here are some highlights from this past week.

Miss old Austin? Buy memorabilia from this vending machine

A vending machine selling old Austin relics opened this week in the Paramount Theatre lobby that aims to preserve the history of the gentrified areas of the city, said Carl Settles, the executive director of Austin nonprofit E4 Youth.

The LostIn vending machine includes items from old Austin establishments like a t-shirt from the Victory Grill in east Austin or a piñata from the now-shuttered Jumpolin or a L.C. Anderson High School pencil case.

The machine will be located at the Paramount through the South by Southwest festival.

“Creative and tech companies are a gentrifying force, in that they are bringing these people to the city, and they don’t really understand the history of the places they inhabit, so this is a way of reminding these folks,” Settles said about the SXSW timing.

Can’t make visit the vending machine during SXSW? Settles said he hopes the machine will move to other locations like the Austin airport or to Meta offices.

How development, campaigns are impacting Austin’s live music industry

Across Texas, the music industry has generated nearly $11 billion in economic activity in 2022, a recent state report shows. Austin music tourism generates about $1.8 billion per year, according to the Austin Music Movement nonprofit.

In a South by Southwest panel called “The Economic Impact of Live Entertainment,” live music experts talked about how entertainment multiplies dollars spent locally and how the impact goes beyond the venues and artists themselves.

In 2022, the SXSW festival, which includes a music festival, had a $280.7 million impact in Austin. Pre-pandemic years brought more money to the city including $355.9 million in 2019.

SXSW musicians call out the festival for unfair pay, dub it ‘a bad deal for a decade’

On Thursday morning outside of the Austin Convention Center — the epicenter of the South By Southwest Conference & Festivals — dozens of musicians came together to chant with signs, drums and a megaphone. 

But these musicians were not assembled for a SXSW-sponsored performance. Instead, they were gathered to decry what they called low and unfair compensation rates for appearing and performing at the festival.

The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers launched a campaign Feb. 7. UMAW asked festival producers to cut the application fee and increase the compensation for a SXSW performance to at least $750. Since last month, 2,500 artists signed the demands letter, and at the end of the rally, the latter was hand-delivered to festival officials. 

SXSW Press and Publicity said the following about the rally:

“SXSW is honored to host over 1,400 showcasing acts every March. We are committed to creating professional opportunities by bringing emerging artists together with media, the global music industry and influential audiences. We appreciate the feedback from the UMAW and will be doing our policy review after the event.”