Posted on 03/06/2014 7:36:47 AM PST by a fool in paradise
...As of 2010, SXSW Inc. had just 75 paid employees, including those working part-time.
..,These thousands of volunteers “are the faces of SXSW,” according to the company, and without them this year’s conference simply couldn’t happen.
...SXSW may have an argument that its internship program is legal; that its program is only available to those getting college credit certainly helps. When it comes to volunteers, however, the Department of Labor says there is no argument at all: Individuals “may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers.”
...The artists who come to SXSW aren’t compensated much better. Plane tickets and accommodations are on the band, which SXSW pays with either $250 or free admission to the music festival — one or the other, not both. Big names can find themselves a sponsor at a side event, but the up-and-comers are usually left in debt.
While much of the labor at SXSW may be free, tickets are not. If you order six months ahead of time, a pass to the film festival will set you back $495, as opposed to $650 if you buy now. A music badge costs $625 if you order ahead of time and $795 at the door, while access to everything costs from $1,295 to $1,695.
...“Are we getting rich? What is rich? I’m not sure what that means,” Swenson replied, sounding like someone who is certainly not poor. “To me rich means that I don’t have to work anymore. And if that’s the case, I’m not rich.”
...The music pass turned out not to be worth going without sleep for 10 days, she said, but it was still all right...
...even the absurdly nonprofit National Football League decided to end its direct use of unpaid labor at the Super Bowl...
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Texas ping!
I stay out of Austin during SXSW week. Nothing but suckers go there to spend their money.
Austin, the lib blue blight in the middle of Texas.
Mirroring UT Austin where you pay for covered parking by your dorm but with the lottery your parking space may be a mile away without covering, if you get in at all.
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