SXSW's Aussie BBQ To Return To Outdoor Venue

This year's Aussie BBQ at the annual South By South West industry conference and showcase will return to its former venue of Brush Square Park after four years at the multi-storey Maggie Mae's, organisers Sounds Australia have confirmed.

The move comes as part of a renewed push by Sounds Australia to ensure that Australian artists attending SXSW — who frequently invest thousands of dollars to be able to make the trip to Austin — are getting the chance not only to play in front of a crowd, but the right crowd.

"We’re attempting to consolidate it to give it more focus with respect to putting the Australian acts in front of industry, rather than 'Spring Breakers', so it’s actually a little more of a consolidation," Sounds Australia executive producer Millie Millgate told theMusic.com.au.

"The evolution of South By has kind of grown to just have so many more people going for the sake of a massive party, and I guess because of that what we’re finding is a lot of industry are leaving on Friday night or Saturday morning, and our barbecue had been on the Saturday for the last six years, so, we first and foremost wanted to move off that weekend. 

"And you really do get that 'Spring Break' feel – it’s often St Paddy’s day and you literally cannot move down Sixth Street, which is just completely chockas. Massive, massive queues to get into the event – which is all well and good in theory, and it’s great to have our bands playing in front of people, but we’re really mindful of the type of people we need to get them in front of. The artists that are going are, for the most part, needing to be seen by agents and festivals and labels and potential partners, and if they’re having trouble getting in, that’s a problem for us."

While the enthusiasm from the 'Spring Break' set is unquestionably appreciated and, indeed, the long-term goal for most Australian acts at SXSW, the massive investment required of local bands to have the opportunity to play there becomes a more pragmatic decision, Millgate said.

"To be honest, a lot of those Spring Break kids are huge music fans, so I’m not by any means wanting to disregard or disrespect them, but it’s just, when our acts are probably looking at a minimum $15,000 investment each, it’s not about going there and playing to those people; it really is about ‘how do we put them in front of key industry in an effective and meaningful way?’," she said.

"That’s what we’ve done this year with the barbecue – it’s anyone’s guess as to how it will go, but we’re very much hoping that it will have the desired effect!"

As for the increased exclusivity, Millgate said that Sounds were forced to re-evaluate the Aussie BBQ's entry policy upon finding guest lists reaching unmanageable points, often filled with names of people who weren't even necessarily attending.

"We’ve tried and attempted to prioritise badges, but we also had a guest list – a crazy guest list. For instance, last year’s guest list had 16,000 names," she explained. "Now, clearly we didn’t print that off, nor did we even bother having it on hand – it’s just ludicrous – and part of that is that you’ve got different ticketing agencies and services that will RSVP people to every single party. So, whilst that might be great for those that are attending and don’t have a badge, it makes the whole thing a bit of a joke in terms of management and logistics. You can’t look at a list that long and go through and actually determine who really should be the ones coming in the room.

"So, this year, we’re going to be much stricter in terms of badges getting the priority, and we’ll also have [for] the artists playing … a different accreditation for key people they need to get in."

The full line-up for this year's Aussie BBQ will be released next week. Keep your eyes peeled — it's sure to be a corker.