Colorado Music Party Returns to Austin During SXSW Week
by Tim Wenger
SpokesBUZZ is again hosting the Colorado Music Party at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The lineup is massive and includes representatives from just about every scene in Colorado. CMB caught up with Julie Sutter, who handles the marketing for the event, to get the lowdown on what will be going down March 17-21.
The lineup is as follows: Dave Arcari, In The Whale, Inner Oceans, Kitty Crimes, Publicist UK, Residual Kid, Robert Cline Jr., Rubedo, Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, SPELLS, The Yawpers, Wheelchair Sports Camp
3Two, Albny, Altas, AMZY, Andy Sydow, Aspen Hourglass, Babah Fly, Ben Marshal, Better Than Bacon, Birch Street, Blake Brown & The American Dust Choir, Bonnie and the Beard, Branded Bandits, Brett Jarnagin, Bud Bronson & The Good Timers, Calder’s Revolvers, Caramel Carmela, Carson Block, Cobary Jam, Cold River City, Cōvergeist, CRL CRRLL, Dirty Few, Disguise the Silence, DOUBLEWIDE, Dr. Death + Mr. Vile, Dragondeer, Edison, Eldren, Elise Wunder, Facing West, Filthy T, From Thin Air, Grim&Darling, High Five Hip Hop, Indigenous Robot, iZCALLi, Jack+Jill, Jesse Manley and His Band, Jilly.fm, JiM ChieF, Jordan Igoe, Kind Dub, Lisa Bell Band, Lissa Hanner, Matt Mahern and Constitution, Maxwell Hughes (formerly of The Lumineers), Montoneros, No Fair Fights, OKO TYGRA, Open Space, Palace Brands, Poor Me, Post Paradise, Professor Fox’s One Man Band, Qbala, Red Fox Run, RipRats, Rob Drabkin, Rocktin Grove, Rootbeer & Mermentau, Rumours Follow, Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts, Sarah & the Meanies, SarCa$t*, Sexy Ester, Shaley Scott Band, Shatterproof, Shelby Britton, Slow Caves, Sound of Ceres, Steele & Colfax, Stella Luce, Stephen Langstaff, Strawberry Runners, The 14ers, the B.A.B.E.S., The Covz, The Cumberland Collective, The Echo Chamber, The FAMM, The Left Ready, The Lindsey Saunders Band, The LoLos, The Patti Fiasco, The Railsplitters, The Rayo Brothers, The Robby Wicks Band, The Royal, The Seers, The Sweet Lillies, The Wendy Woo Band, Thunderthief, Tight Thump, Tommy Metz, Travellers Music, Von Stomper, Wandering Monks, Wasteland Hop, We Are Not a Glum Lot, Wild Wombat, Wiredogs and Write Minded.
CMB: How did the idea for the Colorado Music Party come to life?
JS: One of the things we realized after attending SXSW for several years is how — because it can be so overwhelming — you tend to gravitate to the people you know. Colorado musicians and music industry professionals find themselves connecting more closely in Austin because of that kind of camaraderie. It’s also incredibly more efficient to join forces and unify on promotion, marketing and messaging — both in terms of expenses and rising above all the noise. You get more bang for your buck by collaborating with one another. So in 2013 SpokesBUZZ created the Colorado Music Party as a marketing campaign and a one-stop website for Colorado showcase RSVPs. In 2014, we hosted the first actual event together — a two-day unofficial showcase combining all these different Colorado industry entities, media and musicians. This year, it’s a five-day/five-night unofficial event on Sixth Street with more than 120 bands with a connection to Colorado — either because they’re Colorado musicians, or connected through Colorado music industry professionals.
CMB: Is this an official SXSW showcase?
JS: Well, like the vast majority of events in Austin during March, our event is an unofficial multi-day showcase. It occurs simultaneously with SXSW but it not affiliated with or endorsed by SXSW Official. Several Colorado bands who are traveling to Austin this year do have official SXSW performances as well, but we’ve always opted for the unofficial route. It gives us more of an ability to choose what partners we bring on board with us.
CMB: In addition to the show, is there anything else available or provided for the bands who take part?
JS: One of the biggest advantages to musicians performing at the Colorado Music Party is the ability for them to solidify relationships regionally — with Colorado industry professionals, other Colorado bands that they can meet and combine forces with back home, with our Colorado media contacts and sponsors, etc. The performance, as with any performance, is an opportunity to increase their fan base — but that aforementioned collaborative element with other Colorado contacts is key. It’s also an incredible opportunity to make connections with professionals and bands from around the country and around the world, all in one place.
CMB: Do SpokesBUZZ bands take priority in the selection process?
JS: Well, SpokesBUZZ still presents a day party — as we have for the past five years, before the Colorado Music Party even existed — to showcase our roster of bands. So during that day (Thursday this year), it’s all SpokesBUZZ bands, or bands selected via some of the collaborative programming we do through the nonprofit, like bands from our BandSwap partner cities. In that sense, we’re just like many of the other sponsors who present their bands during the Colorado Music Party — we budget for it and put together our lineup. For instance, this year, several entities from Fort Collins are joining forces to present bands on Friday, for instance — under the umbrella brand “Play Fort Collins”. Several SpokesBUZZ bands have been selected by those sponsors, because they’re a) very good and b) already going to be in Austin representing Colorado, so it’s efficient to book them for a second play. But there are a ton of other Fort Collins bands that are not SpokesBUZZ bands that Play Fort Collins is having represent them on Friday as well.
There are other partners — like Illegal Pete’s, 7s Management, and the City of Boulder Office of Arts and Culture — who are also sponsoring and hand-selecting their lineups as well. And then there are a number of sponsors who want to be involved but have asked for help in selecting bands to present — which is why we advertised around the state for bands to apply. This year we have bands from as far away as Grand Junction playing at our “opening ceremonies” presented by the Colorado Innovation Network, for instance — it was important to SpokesBUZZ and the other event organizers that we reached out beyond our own rosters and beyond the Front Range to find bands to represent Colorado.
CMB: Anything you are doing different with this year’s party than last year’s?
JS: Well — so much, really. We’ve expanded from 2 days to 5 full days and nights, so it’s WAY bigger in all respects. And the venue (The 512 on 6th) is basically our house from Tuesday – Saturday, so we’re flying the Colorado flag from the roof all week. We’ve got the COIN kickoff on Tuesday to capitalize on that intersection of tech and music, a full day of rooftop hip hop on Wednesday, the full day Play Fort Collins on Friday, and Boulder presenting bands on Saturday … all of that is new.
We’ve also organized a Colorado Headquarters business-to-business meeting space just 2 blocks from the venue, in partnership with the Colorado Tourism Office and Colorado Creative Industries. This is a quiet place away from the chaos on Sixth Street where media can conduct interviews, or members of the Colorado music industry can meet with contacts or bring in their bands to create connections with other industry players. It’s got drop-in coworking space organized by Colorado’s Cohere — for recharging, checking email or just plotting your next move in a place where you can hear yourself think. That’s new this year, too! And we’re also partnering with Colorado company Wayin to do some onsite social media visualizations that are pretty cool.
There are still some familiar elements, like the SpokesBUZZ day party, sponsored for the sixth year in a row by New Belgium, which is always a big hit. And the music will be fantastic, as always.
CMB: All SXSW passholders can attend the event, correct? Is it possible to attend the event without buying a festival pass?
JS: The Colorado Music Party is open to anyone age 21+ — you don’t need an official badge at all. We of course welcome SXSW conference attendees and hope they come by to see how much talent we have in Colorado, and what a good time we have showing off our state!
Get more info at coloradomusicparty.com.
Category: Buzzworthy
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
 |
 |
