Fair Pay at SxSW!
MWA is working in coalition to demand Fair Pay at SxSW In June we demonstrated outside the offices of Penske media, the Corporate owners of SxSW. The event was extremely successful drawing upwards of 200 supporters! We continue to work with coalition members on demanding SxSW treat the musicians that work its festival fairly.
Since SXSW launched in 1987, musicians have been the festival’s backbone and main draw. Yet despite SXSW’s consistently growing profits and ever-expanding programming over the past 30+ years, the musicians performing at the festival have been exploited with low pay, high application fees, and other insults.
For at least a decade, SXSW has offered its showcasing artists the same unjust compensation options: either take a wristband to attend the festival, OR receive a one time payment of $250 (or $100 for solo artists). International artists do not even have this choice, and are only offered a wristband with no possibility for compensation.
While SXSW has maintained these insultingly low wages since at least 2012, the festival has regularly increased its application fees. In 2012 the fee was $40, and now it’s $55, a 37.5% increase. Even without accounting for skyrocketing inflation, these stagnant wages and growing fees have meant an actual decrease in wages for SXSW performers over the past decade.
Enough is enough. Artists built SXSW and we must be fairly compensated for our work.
SXSW regularly boasts about bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into the Austin economy. The festival is now owned by Penske Media, who also own Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, and the Hollywood trade publications. The corporation’s CEO Jay Penske is the son of billionaire Roger Penske, and is himself worth roughly a quarter of a billion dollars. The festival brings high profile politicians and business people from all over the world for high level speeches, panels, and networking. Yet SXSW continues to severely mistreat the artists who are the backbone of the enterprise. We demand fair pay for musicians at SXSW.
For more info check out our coalition pages:
