A Tale of Two Festivals

ACL Fest, South by Southwest don't compete. They complement each other

By Joe Gross
Austin American-Statesman
Sept. 12, 2004

Three years ago, the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival was Austin's equivalent to the Super Bowl. Bands from all over the world come to see and be seen. Hotels are booked months in advance by music industry insiders.

Photo by Sung Park/AA-S 2004 SXSW: South by Southwest is geared primarily toward the music industry. The shows are as much about promotion as they are about having fun. Photo by Jay Janner/AA-S 2003 2003 ACL FEST: The Austin City Limits Music Festival is all about fans having a good time. Invited bands tend to be established acts that can draw a crowd.

In 2002, Austin embraced a second multi-day music event. An instant hit, the Austin City Limits Music Festival grew rapidly into a fan-driven fandango with a national reputation and a remarkable ability to attract top talent.

In just its third year, ACL is already challenging SXSW for undisputed economic champ of the music calendar.

Out-of-town ticket sales, a key indicator of economic effect, have jumped from 30 percent last year to 50 percent, and total attendance could hit 75,000 per day — a sellout — according to festival and visitors bureau sources. Both festivals have become very big business for local hotels, restaurants and retailers.

How does a city the size of Austin support two such heavyweight, tourist-happy events?

It helps that the two festivals serve two completely different purposes and audiences. Neither group thinks of the other as competition, and both parties seem thrilled that the other is doing so well.

"I have nothing but admiration for (ACL Fest), but it's an apples and oranges kind of thing," SXSW director Roland Swenson says of the two festivals.

The success of the ACL Fest and SXSW isn't a zero-sum game, music leaders say; the existence of both festivals enhances Austin's reputation as the live music capital of the world.

SXSW "focuses primarily on music business professionals with a healthy of participation from Austin music lovers," said Texas Music Office director Casey Monahan. "The ACL fest is geared towards fans in Austin, in Texas and around the U.S. South by Southwest filled a huge vacuum for music business people looking for new talent," Monahan said. "The ACL fest filled a huge vacuum for a contemporary-music festival for music fans. They both ... tapped a market that had not been tapped, but those markets are completely separate."

ACL: Almost famous

The ACL Fest is Austin's entry into the summer pop music festival market. Bumbershoot, the 33-year-old, Seattle-based arts and music festival that took place last weekend, featured a few of the same acts as this year's ACL Fest, including the Pixies and Toots & the Maytals.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar magazine, the concert industry's trade publication, thinks that ACL has built a strong regional presence on the level of Bumbershoot.

"The talent lineup at ACL is very impressive," he said. "There's a huge variety of artists there."

Photo by Sung Park/AA-S 2003 Last year, in just its second year, the ACL Fest drew as many as 65,000 people a day for three days of music in Zilker Park.

Many Austinites have long been fond of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary. "I don't think (ACL Fest) has achieved the international fame of a New Orleans," Bongiovanni said. "But it took New Orleans a long time to build that reputation." ACL Fest is not yet quite that famous, but it's getting there.

According to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, the economic effect of SXSW's music section — separate from its film and interactive components — was $19.7 million. The ripple effect of last year's ACL fest was $11.2 million.

Last year, 30 percent of the festival's three-day passes were purchased by out-of-towners. This year, ACL radio ads for the fest ran in 16 cities on both coasts, including Seattle, New York and Chicago.

ACL is on track to sell about 50 percent of its three-day passes to non-Austinites, which leads Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau communications director Cynthia Maddox to estimate that the economic boon for this year's festival could top $15 million.

Festival spokesperson Lindsey Tishgart says that tickets sales are well ahead of last year and that the festival is on track for a sell-out.

This year, 58 hotels are offering ACL-related packages, about twice as many as last year.

Tom Schurr is general manager of the Radisson Hotel and Suites on East Cesar Chavez Street, as well as this year's president of the Austin Hotel and Lodging Association, a trade group. He notes that SXSW's peak nights sell out nearly three months in advance, while bookings pegged to this year's ACL fest sold out about three weeks ago.

"Hotels fare very well during these two events," Schurr said. "With each year, ACL is going to have more buzz about it."

Since since Barton Springs Road will be closed between Robert E. Lee Road and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), ACL is a bonanza for the restaurants within walking distance of the park.

Shady Grove, located at 1624 Barton Springs Road, was jammed each day of last year's fest. Business is expected to be even better this year. Chris Jones was a waiter during last year's festival, and is now a manager.

"A group calling from Connecticut asked if we could cater their tent for 75 people all three days," he said. Normally, that would be great business for us, but that weekend is so busy we just couldn't do it. We're using every available staff member."

Two festivals, two missions

Of course, SXSW is already a known quantity. Begun in 1987, it has grown into one of the premier music business conferences in the world.

South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival Spring 2004 Location: Multiple Venues Bands: 1,267 Stages: 60 Tickets: $115-$525 (Four days) Attendees: 7,000-10,000 per day Economic Impact: $19.7 million

Austin City Limits Music Festival Location: Zilker Park Bands: 124 Stages: 8 Tickets: $65-$75 (Three days) Attendees: 50,000-65,000 per day Economic Impact: 11.2 million Sources: Austin Visitors and Convention Bureau, ACL, SXSW. Economic impact is based on a standard industry estimate of daily spending by out-of-town visitors.

Last spring, 1,267 bands came to play in front of more than 8,000 conference registrants. It draws music industry insiders, hundreds of journalists, and musicians from all over the world to meet, greet, and go see the next big thing.

This, then, is the biggest difference between the ACL Fest and SXSW: With a handful of exceptions, bands ask to participate in SXSW rather than the other way round.

"Bands need to have a reason to be here, and that reason is, typically, they have a new product." Swenson said. "We're a one-stop-shopping promotional vehicle."

Over the years, SXSW has grown to spread itself out all over Austin, taking over the town for a week. From the Hole in the Wall to the Continental Club, it seems like every bar and restaurant with a sound system and space for a stage wants to host live music during SXSW. At the convention center, there are panels on topics ranging from navigation of the music industry's treacherous waters to new developments in musician health care.

The Austin City Limits Music Fest, on the other hand, is geared to music fans. From its debut — Sept. 28, 2002 — it was a smash hit. With more than 100 bands and a competitive ticket price ($40 for a two-day pass), more than 60,000 fans turned out to a blistering Zilker Park to hear everything from Wilco to Los Lobos.

The next year, the festival expanded to three days and bigger names (prices rose to $65, but for a three-day pass). Tourists and locals gathered under cloudy skies for hugely popular sets from Ben Harper and show-closers R.E.M. Concentrated at Zilker Park, the ACL Fest is smaller and easier to navigate than SXSW. Bands don't come here to be discovered; they're invited here because they are already headliners or established artists.

Though there's an obvious orientation toward the Austin-esque music of KGSR radio and the "Austin City Limits" television show — which recently won a National Medal of the Arts — the festival has also tried to change with the times.

ACL Fest "tries to book a wide range of artists and follow the trends," said Lisa Schickel, spokeswoman for Capital Sports and Entertainment, a ACL Fest co-organizer. "The first year there were a lot of jam bands. This year, there are a lot more bands, a lot of indie rock."

ACL Fest talent booker Charles Attal has tried to mix older favorites with newer acts.

"Austin loves Wilco. If I had my way I'd put 'em on every year," said Attal. (Wilco is playing this year's fest, and performed at the first event in 2002.) He added that only 25 percent to 30 percent of the bands repeat from year to year, and that while there have been a handful of acts — such as Pat Green and G. Love and Special Sauce — that have played all three years, he hopes there won't be any four-peat bands next year.

He added: "If we get caught repeating ourselves too often, that's when we will fail."

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jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926