The message for SXSW as summarized by one speaker on Wednesday was simple: “Pay your [expletive] bands,” said Sajeev Rau, who belongs to a newly certified union for workers at a group of independent record labels. The protesters say SXSW is making millions of dollars annually on a musical event that pays the actual musicians a pittance.
One WGA member, comedian and writer Sasha Stewart, echoed a recurring theme on Wednesday, that writers and musicians are in this struggle together. “So when we heard that musicians who make SXSW millions of dollars every year are only getting paid with a wristband or $100, we were shocked and outraged but not surprised,” Stewart said. “Corporate media like Penske and the TV-movie studios will always demand the most from artists while paying the least that they can.”