SXSW Cancelled

[ken]

https://www.sxsw.com/2020-event-update/

Not sure what to say except now I'm worried about the festivals I'm planning to attend.

[Lunkhead]

Yeah, this is pretty major. SXSW was supposed to start in a week! They estimate it brings in $350MM of spending in Austin during the festival. Moscone Center here in SF has had a couple of big cancellations (Google I/O, Game Developers Conference, etc.). Not that I have any empathy for that business but for a convention center like that, if they have like half their major bookings for year wiped away I wonder how they can handle that financially? Similarly there are probably a lot of local businesses in Austin that depend on their SXSW revenue bump to make ends meet. (I've heard from folks in retail that many small retail businesses have a similar dependency on holiday spending.) Also scary will be if the COVID-19 situation has a major impact on manufacturing in and/or shipping from China. That could ding mega companies like Apple. Scary stuff! A bunch of my coworkers were supposed to go to SXSW. One of them said she's bummed but also relieved. The idea of going to such a huge crowded festival right now sounded scary.

[Lunkhead]

Shoot, I bet the annual official nerdcore showcase gig there is also a big deal for MC Frontalot, and that's cancelled. 100s/1000s of small time musicians will be negatively effected.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

I heard about this through a Sarah Shook post. I, too, feel bad for all the performers that book tours around this event that are now all trying to rejig their schedule AT THE SAME TIME.

[jb]

Not to mention that concerts are a gathering of people in close proximity, so how long until people just start stopping their attendance at live music because of COVID fear? Maybe we should be passing out sneeze-guards at shows...