Austin percussionist Thor Harris has been playing South by Southwest since the ramshackle days, when the festival was a platform for up-and-coming musicians hoping to be discovered by music industry insiders.
This year, it鈥檚 different.
"I鈥檝e played hundreds of other music festivals and never heard of any of the other ones having war profiteers as sponsors," Harris said.
Harris is one of who dropped out of the festival after learning the U.S. Army and defense contractor RTX, formerly Raytheon, are sponsors. They argue SXSW has cozied up to the defense industry and specifically, RTX, 迟丑补迟鈥檚 in the war in Gaza. Its subsidiary, , is also a SXSW partner.
The this month, but it鈥檚 gained steam after from activists went viral.
Andy Bianculli from the indie pop band Star Parks canceled a handful of gigs. Out at Hotel Vegas earlier this week, he said he realized the cancellations were having a real impact 鈥� albeit an unintentional one.
"I didn't think about the perspective of how much dropping out of 鈥� shows affects the clubs and the bookers," said Bianculli, whose band is still performing at unofficial shows. "They're scrambling to fill holes because everyone's dropping out."
This kind of sponsorship isn鈥檛 new. Sure, the festival has been a platform for artists, but it鈥檚 also been a platform for Twitter and Uber. Over time, defense contractors and even the , and have slunk into panels during the festival's tech portion.
Eric Braden of the Austin punk band Big Bill said he had no problem boycotting the festival this year. They didn't even apply to play 鈥� in part, because of protests last year over the festival's wage structure and application fees. He said over the last 10 years the festival has become less about the music and more about sponsored events and movie promotions.
"I think there was kind of a turning point this year for me at least, because ... it's not like the first year that they've had some unsavory partners," he said. "Sometimes putting pressure on people, making people feel uncomfortable is important."
Between the sponsors this year and last year's wage protests, Bianculli said the festival's appeal has worn thin.
"Like, how many times do people need to be burned to be like, 鈥榃ell, why be associated with them?'" he said. "Then when you start getting involved with 鈥� arms dealers, you鈥檙e like, 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 want anything to do with any of these people. This is insane!'"
The boycott has of Gov. Greg Abbott, who said bands who disagree with Texas鈥� ties to defense contractors should leave, if they don鈥檛 like it. Abbott touted of the U.S. Army Futures Command, a research arm to develop next-generation defense technology, as proof of the state's 鈥� and the city's 鈥� support of the industry.
SXSW didn鈥檛 respond to KUT's request for comment, but tweeted Tuesday in response to Abbott that it respects artists' opinions. It said the defense industry 鈥渉as historically been a proving ground for many of the systems we rely on today.鈥� The festival added, however, that it "does not agree" with Abbott.
Braden said he's fine if critics view the boycott as sanctimonious since it's not going to stop the war in Gaza.
"When it comes down to it, there's people dying," he said. "There's children dying, and it's OK to be sanctimonious when it comes to that."
Harris said he hopes the festival prompts some sort of conversation about who SXSW partners with. In the meantime, he doesn鈥檛 fault artists who can't afford to boycott.
"The thing is, I don鈥檛 blame any of these young musicians for being hesitant to drop out," he said. "It鈥檚 just really yucky that they are just now finding out about this affiliation that SXSW has with war profiteers."
A protest concert organized by Austin for Palestine and the Union of Allied Workers and Musicians is planned for Thursday on Congress Avenue near the U.S. Army's sponsored stage on Eighth Street.
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