March 21, 2007
An Open Letter from FactoryPeople: We Love You Austin and SXSW, But You’re Freaking Us Out
The following is a letter written by Le and Thomas Popov, owners of South Congress boutique FactoryPeople.
As life-long independent music lovers and long-time Austinites (at least one of has lived here since 1989), we have come to love mid-March when the SXSW Music Festival brings Austin to life. After the events of this year’s fest, it’s unlikely we’ll ever feel the same affection for SXSW. On Thursday, March 15th, an inspector of the City of Austin’s Fire Marshal’s Office shut down the FactoryPeople after-party within an hour of the doors opening. He held in his hand a list of 19 other events he would visit that night. Friday night saw a rumoured 26 parties targeted while Saturday saw even more confusion.
“A lot of record label executives, booking agents, bands, sponsors and music lovers left Austin with a
bad taste in their mouths.”We were ticketed for not obtaining a public assembly permit. As of late last year any gathering of more than 49 people (even on private property) requires a permit to be issued after a visit by a fire inspector. We have since learned that this ordinance was passed as a means of combating out of control frat parties. In applying this ordinance to parties during the SXSW music festival, the city cast a very wide net.
In the three years that we have had our S. Congress retail store open, we have hosted numerous parties the largest during SXSW and ACL Fest. We have always gone out of our way to create a safe environment that is also law abiding. As such, we employ two off-duty APD officers to monitor such things as crowd control, noise levels, as well as to provide a level of service to our guests like flagging taxis at the end of the night (which we sometimes pay for if the guests have had too much to drink and can’t afford the fare). Two weeks before our most recent event, Officer Tankaksinanukij set up a time to visit us and discuss details. On the day of the event, two other officers stopped by get more information as well. We were never asked once if we were in possession of the public assembly permit. This new ordinance was news not only to us, but to the very professional and informed officers that we hired for our event. Would we have known about this new ordinance if we had been in communication with the Fire Department? We’re not so confident.
Los Angeles based label-head and promoter Franki Chan made multiple trips to Austin organizing his official SXSW showcase and two after-parties. The fire inspector visited the site of one event numerous times last week and never discussed the ordinance nor did he ever request a copy of any permits (with full understanding of the large-scale event that was going to take place there). The night after our event was shut down, Franki’s party was too for the same reason – lack of permit.
We might have been two of the biggest events to be shut down, but we weren’t the only ones. Parties in conference rooms, outdoor venues, established party spaces and downtown clubs were all affected. The Fire Inspector had direct orders to shut these parties down, not for safety issues, but for non-compliance to a mystery ordinance. Visitors from all over the world who descend upon Austin every year for the music festival were left wondering, what is going on?
While the organizers of SXSW would like to believe that these guests come only to buy a wristband and attend their officially sanctioned events, the city and people of Austin know better. They come to eat great Tex-Mex, shop on S. Congress, enjoy world-class hotels and see great bands during daytime and after-hours parties. A lot of record label executives, booking agents, bands, sponsors and music lovers left Austin with a bad taste in their mouths.
Unfortunately for Austin, they are now looking to spend their money at other festivals next year. CMJ, WMC, Coachella, Art Basel, Fashion Week and Sundance will all happily provide alternatives. Every party that was shut down affected not only the locals who staffed it but also the sponsors, bands and labels that organized it. FactoryPeople will not risk the relationships that we work so hard to build on another event being shut down by the City of Austin. Nor will we lose another dollar (and yes, we lost a lot) on an event that we worked on for over six months only to be shut down in just one hour.
One would hope that a festival built on the premise of connecting independent bands and major record labels would see the benefit of positive evolution. Without the unofficial events that are thrown during SXSW, many of the bands who come would suffer financially. They depend on being able to play multiple parties not only for exposure but also for income. The reason [that] the Sundance Film Festival is the force that it is and is many times more important than the SXSW Film Festival is the peripheral parties and events that compliment it. The networking that goes on during these events is one of the main reasons for attendance. Ironically enough, FactoryPeople also hosted the after-party for the “Billy The Kid” premiere which won the Best Documentary award during the SXSW Film Fest. Interestingly, that party was not shut down.
SXSW has sustained a reputation for being imperial and difficult to deal with for years. Whether it’s delaying the 2007 band roster for several weeks or filing multi-million dollar lawsuits for copyright infringement against small companies or appearing to be involved in the shutting down of unofficial events, these are not the actions of people who claim “SXSW is what it is, and we do our best to stay out of its way.” SXSW has not kept secret their frustration with non-sanctioned events. Well-documented efforts on their behalf to shut down private parties and alternative SXSW events were carried out by the Fire Marshal as far back as 1994. Unfortunately, in lieu of open communication, conspiracy theories will abound.
We have enjoyed SXSW as participants for years, well before we opened our shop. And quite frankly, for a shop that bills itself as one that “sells clothes to listen to music in,” we probably wouldn’t have opened in Austin had it not been for its music-loving reputation. As business owners, we see first-hand the benefits that SXSW brings to Austin.
This year the City of Austin became an official sponsor of SXSW and waived close to $100,000 in fees for permits, street closures and manpower. Why they choose to support some businesses and actively penalize others disappoints us greatly. In some instances, the Fire Department allowed events to continue this year as long as a department official was on site at $120 per hour. Mayor Wynn even got involved in keeping one business open. Obviously none of these offers were made to us (and others) as we would have taken them.
Ultimately, FactoryPeople didn’t obtain the permits and we accept full responsibility. We’ve returned all sponsorship checks and apologized to all who were affected. It’s a mistake we won’t make again. We do, however, have the right to know why this happened.
Someone compiled the list of parties. Someone targeted music-related events during the SXSW Music Festival. We have the right to know who and why. FactoryPeople is filing a freedom of information request for access to any records detailing the communications between SXSW, The City Council, The City of Austin, the Fire Department, and Lt. James Hoad of the Austin Fire Department.
If you were affected by any of the above, please email thepartysover@factorypeople.com.
Love,
Thomas and Le Popov
FactoryPeople
FactoryPeople.com