A number of artists have pulled out of their official showcases at this 12 months’s South by Southwest competition (SXSW) in help of Palestine, citing the Austin, Texas occasion’s ties to protection contractor RTX Company, previously often called Raytheon, and its sponsorship by the US military.
The boycott was led by Chicago-based songwriter Ella Williams, AKA Squirrel Flower, who revealed an announcement on her Instagram on 4 March saying her withdrawal from the official showcase she was set to play on the competition, which begins this weekend. “I’m pulling out particularly due to the truth that SXSW is platforming protection contractors together with [RTX] in addition to the US military, a primary sponsor of the competition,” she wrote.
Shortly after Williams launched her assertion, different showcasing artists, together with Brooklyn-based emo band Correct, Los Angeles-based indie band Mamalarky and North Carolinan singer-songwriter Eliza McLamb, withdrew from their official showcases citing comparable causes.
“These protection contractors make the weapons that the IDF makes use of to bomb Gaza. The IDF has now killed no less than one in each 75 inhabitants of Gaza, [and] I refuse to be complicit in that,” Williams mentioned. “I don’t consider {that a} music competition ought to embody profiteers of struggle – I consider that artwork is a device to create a greater world and has no place alongside warmongers.”
Williams first grew to become conscious of SXSW’s protection connections after seeing a publish by Austin for Palestine Coalition, which is pressuring the competition to chop ties with the Division of Protection and personal protection contractors. The US military is listed as a “tremendous sponsor” of this 12 months’s competition, and is presenting greater than 9 occasions, whereas Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of RTX, is sponsoring two occasions at SXSW Pitch, the competition’s tech showcase.
RTX is thought to provide weapons to the Israeli authorities; on an earnings name in late October final 12 months, RTX chairman and govt director Greg Hayes was quoted as saying shareholders would “see a profit” from elevated demand for weapons throughout the struggle in Gaza. Protection contractor L3Harris, which can also be presenting an occasion at SXSW, has additionally come underneath hearth for supplying weapons parts to the Israeli military.
Mamalarky’s Noor Khan says it was a “very easy determination” to tug out of the competition, as a result of “enjoying these two official exhibits might by no means deliver us something that issues greater than the lives which are being misplaced in Palestine right now”.
Her bandmate Livvy Bennett says that enjoying official showcases would represent “selling this competition for over per week, and we don’t need to do this”. Finally Bennett, who has been attending SXSW since she was 12 and describes it as her “favourite” competition, hopes the boycott leads to SXSW and different music festivals divesting from the army and protection industries.
Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 30,000 individuals since October, displaced 85% of the two.3 million inhabitants from their properties, and left greater than half of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure in ruins, in line with information from Gaza’s well being ministry and the UN.
Along with reside music, SXSW additionally covers movie, TV and the tech business. The competition is a boon for Austin, contributing over $380m in spending to town’s financial system over the course of the 2023 occasion.
A spot in an official SXSW showcase is a chance to be uncovered to brokers, competition bookers, managers, labels and journalists – a probably life-changing prevalence for some musicians. Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Shalom Obisie-Orlu, who information underneath her first identify, says showcasing at SXSW has been “a long-standing dream” of hers, however she determined to tug out of the competition after seeing Williams’ publish. “The chance is huge, however I’m South African – I come from the place the place apartheid was invented,” she says. “I’ll by no means in my life put myself ready the place I [would] look again at my actions and be like, ‘You danced for the struggle machine.’”
SXSW has confronted elevated criticism in recent times over its alleged poor therapy of artists. In 2022, indie rock band Wednesday revealed a viral X thread breaking down the price of performing on the competition, prompting many different indie artists to debate the unviable economics of enjoying on the occasion. At the moment, SXSW supplied home artists both a small money fee ($250 for bands or $100 for solo acts) or a competition wristband, whereas worldwide artists had been solely supplied a wristband.
Final 12 months, over 2500 musicians signed an open letter from the Union of Musicians and Allied Staff (UMAW) which requested the competition to extend efficiency charges to $750 and supply a wristband to all artists. Later that 12 months, the Austin Parks and Recreation Board beneficial that Austin Metropolis Council rethink its relationships with SXSW till the competition elevated pay charges. Charges for SXSW 2024 had been raised to $350 for bands and $150 for solo artists, whereas worldwide artists are nonetheless solely supplied a wristband. An SXSW 2024 music cross prices $995.
Williams had initially chosen to just accept a wristband in lieu of fee, “so my backside line is just not affected in any respect – which is the irony of the state of affairs.” “I personally really feel like withdrawing my artwork from this competition is an act of claiming I cannot be concerned in any manner,” she says. “Withholding artwork and labor is a really highly effective device – it’s a device for spreading info, and, on this case, for displaying SXSW that artists won’t stand for this.”
SXSW didn’t reply to the Guardian’s request for remark.
