SX$Worth

Welp. SXSW 2013 has officially come to a close. Geeks, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives alike managed to take over (overcrowd I-35, consume excessive amounts of beer and brisket, and party with whatever celebrities they could find in) the city of Austin, TX for nearly 2 weeks in hopes of showcasing their work to the world…or just for the sake of going back home with a good story. Whether they actually had a creative outlet to contribute to the SX experience or not wasn’t too much of a big deal; fact: Austin is simply winning due to the shear numbers of people that SXSW attracts with each new year.

The festival originated in 1987 solely as a musical event with a mere 700 registered attendees. Fast forward to 2012, SX’s 26^th year of operation, and it accumulated approximately 147,000 SXSW Conference and Festival (Music, Film, and Interactive) participants; a 300,000+ attendee turnout at free-to-the-public functions. This kind of traction is almost unbelievable; and yet, it undoubtedly proves that the impact of SXSW is both economically and culturally important to the city of Austin, TX.

According to a SXSW economic impact analysis from Greyhill Advisors:

“SXSW continues to be the single most profitable event for the City of Austin’s hospitality industry, having been responsible for injecting more than $190.3 million into the Austin economy in 2012.  SXSW attendance expenditures (from badge‐holders, industry professionals, wristband holders, festival exhibitors, and single visitors of events as film screenings and music concerts) totaled more than $116.6 million. Additionally, year-round SXSW operations (marketing, branding, promotions, etc.) and event-specific expenditures exceeded $73.7 million…The conference directly booked nearly 11,000 individual hotel reservations, totaling 50,000‐plus room nights—an increase of more than 13 percent over the previous year.”

The numbers for 2013 have not been released as of yet, but I would imagine that they have only increased in correlation with the popularity of the festival itself. With that being said, I think that the perception of what SXSW is today versus what is used to be is also becoming increasingly misconstrued.

It is no longer about finding what is new, different and exciting. The futuristic spirit that once inhabited SXSW unfortunately seems to have been tarnished by corporate dollars.

There is of course something admirable to be said about allowing the public to decide upon the content of next year’s festival; however the “public” has shifted from this group of connected people..to a network of agencies, corporations, top-tier brands, and holding corps. This without doubt, was going to impact the tone of the festival. And it did. – Tim Nolan, Head of BBH Labs

I think that SXSW will continue to act as an economic dependence for the city of Austin, but it’s dwindling exclusivity – for new talents, discoveries, and developments – will at the very least change if not detrimentally impact the nature and growth of the city. At this rate, Austin won’t be weird/indie for much longer.

Til next time Austin…

 

Robert Glasper’s “Black Radio”

Robert Glasper is one of the most praised jazz pianists today, having worked with many notable artists and transcending across other various genres of music, including Q-tip and Norah Jones. Drawing largely from jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock, Glasper does not limit himself by setting boundaries. As stated by the Los Angeles Times,

“It’s a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla reference into a Thelonious Monk cover, but not many jazz pianists are Robert Glasper…He’s equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz, thereby building a bridge between his musical touchstones.”

Glasper just dropped his fourth album, titled Black Radio, on February 24, 2012 with his band, the Robert Glasper Experiment. The meaning behind this project name derives from the use of the black box, which is the only piece of material or evidence that typically survives a plane crash. Glasper says, “When music is crashing around us, when you hear the same five songs on the radio that aren’t really saying much, we can always go back to great music. Great music always lives on.”

Black Radio features artists such as Erykah Badu, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Lalah Hathaway, Shafiq Husayn (Sa-Ra), KING, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stokley Williams ( of Mint Condition), and yasiin bey (formerly Mos Def). One of the great things about Glasper’s album is its cohesiveness. From the beginning, he sought musical genius from artists that are more than just commercially marketable; these are artists that have become very close friends of his, and that have an eclectic range of music influence to share.

Glasper proclaims, “You can’t pigeonhole what we’re going to do or how we’re going to do it..I wanted to do a project that showcased the fact that we play with artists in other genres; so, it has an urban, hip-hop, soul kind of vibe, but the spine of it all is still a jazz spine.”

Check out the video for “Black Radio” featuring yasiin bey here.

Black Radio is now available on iTunes.