March 2017 saw the team embark on their most ambitious trip to the festival yet with their own official showcase, a week-long partnership with the British Music Embassy and a limitless desire to explore every darn bit of Austin, Texas in the hunt for great new music.
TicketWeb + DIY presents SXSW 2017
TicketWeb is the UK’s leading independent music ticket agent. For years the company has worked with respected buzzy discovery mag and website DIY. It was only natural that the two brands work together with SXSW to curate an official showcase for new artists.
This year’s festival saw TicketWeb and DIY host a night of six new performers at the world-famous British Music Embassy at Latitude 30 in downtown Austin.
In association with the UK Department for Trade & Industry, BBC Music and the PRS Foundation, on Monday 13 March TicketWeb + DIY kickstarted the SXSW Music Festival with a packed out showcase featuring fresh gems Forth Wanderers, False Advertising, SuperGlu, Doe, Jamie Isaac, Muncie Girls.
DIY Magazine produced an accompanying newspaper guide to the event and SXSW. Check out “It’s All Gone Brits Up” (see image below). TicketWeb powered the guest sign-up to the event and produced a commemorative, fully branded Collector Ticket with the Shazam visual recognition watermark built in. Fans who scanned the ticket with Shazam received a digital version of the newspaper straight to their smart phone. Music and interactivity – tick!
Official TicketWeb + DIY Showcase poster
Forth Wanderers
Doe
SuperGlu
Jamie Isaac
False Advertising
Muncie Girls
SuperGlu
Read performers SuperGlu’s SXSW diary here.
TicketWeb partners with the British Music Embassy
As well as hosting official showcases every night of the festival, every year the British Music Embassy runs a daily daytime showcase. 2017 was no different with partners BBC Music and PRS Foundation bringing around 30 x acts from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales out to SXSW and showcasing them at one of the city’s most impressive venues. Boasting the hottest line-up and the best sound and lighting which wouldn’t look out of place on Top of the Pops, TicketWeb is delighted to be an ongoing sponsor of the British Music Embassy.
TicketWeb also provided a landing page for the events where delegates and non-delegates could secure tickets to attend. Check out the landing page here.
Here’s our guide to what was great from the British Music Embassy:
CASI
Dazzling electronic pop from Bangor, north Wales. Move over Ellie Goulding. The mind-blowing new single “The Beast” is out now. Watch it live from British Music Embassy here.
Ciaran Laverly
From the tiny Northern Irish village of Aghagallon all the way to Austin for his second SXSW in a row, Ciaran Laverly’s boyish humour and charm warms the audience whom he then makes weep with his emotive singing and song writing. Check out “Okkervil River” here to see what we mean.
False Advertising
Manchester’s False Advertising are an ambitious punky three-piece. Fronted by riot-girl Jen Hingley, the band stormed the TicketWeb + DIY Showcase and launched their new single “Not My Fault” (see it here).
LIFE
Headlining the BBC Music’s Saturday night showcase at the British Music Embassy, Hull’s LIFE effectively threw the curtain down on SXSW for 2017. What an incredible show it was too! Bar tops trampled, guitars thrashed and Mark E Smith-esque rantings garbled. “Euromillions” is about as good a calling card you’re ever going to find – watch it here.
Flamingods
From London and Bahrain, psychonauts Flamingods were kings of SXSW. A spectacular run of showcases including twice at the British Music Embassy, the percussive group won fans again and again with their visceral performance. Check out their new single “Kewali” now here.
SXSW New Music
SXSW is a spralling endless opportunity to catch new and established live talent from all over the world. When we weren’t working hard promoting our own showcase or supporting the British Music Embassy, we were pounding the streets of Austin following our ears and eyes into the likes of Maggie Mae’s, Swan Dive, the Scoot Inn and Tellers for showcases from friends Redlight Management, Universal Music, UROK Entertainment, the Canadian Embassy and DIY Magazine who hosted an additional standalone showcase on the Friday night with stellar performances from Dream Wife and Canadian freaks WEAVES.
Here are just some of our highlights:
FOXTRAX
Los Angeles three-piece FOXTRAX are one of Ticketmaster USA’s New Music Favourites. Ticketmaster are backing the group with editorial profile, content production and of course promotion for their US tour. We caught the band. Click here for “Under Water” which will get your pulse racing.
Karen Elson
Performing at the Floodfest stage and in real danger of getting sunburnt, we caught the mesmerising Karen Elson. Kudos for lugging that harp around too. Check out her new single “Call Your Name” now right here.
WEAVES
Bizarre Canadians WEAVES played for DIY Magazine at Maggie Mae’s. We walked in to catch them midway through “Coo Coo”. Check out them live in session here to see why we went nuts for them.
BAD POP
DEVO meets Flaming Lips, Vancouver’s BADPOP were one of our highlights of the whole festival after stumbling upon them at the Canadian Embassy showcase at effortlessly hip Swan Dive. Eat them up here.
Jade Bird
British country singer Jade Bird played a series of high profile showcases at SXSW, before jetting off to Woodstock to finish her debut album. See Jade performing in the States in the lead up to South by Southwest here.
Hideout
New York artrockers Hideout blew us away at Tellers. Here’s some shaky footage of them playing their new single.
The Japanese House
Shimmering dance pop from the band already picked for TicketWeb’s 2017 Ones to Watch – check out their British Music Embassy performance here.
Part of the conversation
It wasn’t all just Lone Star beer and live music. SXSW hosts the biggest conversations around music busines, interactivity and tech. There are endless opportunities to join panels and discussions on practically every topic affecting the music industry right now. Artist Services hit the Austin Conference Centre for panels hosted by Ticketmaster North America’s Zeeshan Zaidi and David Marcus; respectively on Using Data to Discover the Next Big Thing and Slaying the Skalpers having just launched Verified Fan with Ed Sheeran’s tour in North America.
Find out more about Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan service and how it can reduce secondary ticketing and reward your fans here.
So we say goodnight to SXSW for another year. Looking forward to March 2018 when we get to do it all again. See ya’ll in Texas!
