ASCAP Elevates Today’s Hottest Songwriters + Artists at SXSW 2023

The 2023 edition of the South by Southwest conference and festival, the annual gathering of the technology, film and music industries and the first full-on version of the event in four years, maintained its status as the quintessential summit of what’s happening culturally, intellectually, socially and musically around the world. Over 10 days, tens of thousands of creatives, attendees and industry reps experienced the cutting-edge spirit that has always defined SXSW from the start.

For the SXSW Music Festival, the ASCAP Urban team presented its popular On the Come Up: SXSW Edition showcase on Thursday, March 16 at Half Step on bustling Rainey Street. Not even a massive electrical storm and torrential rain kept music fans away. The large crowd took shelter for two hours until the storm had passed and then were treated to dynamic performances from an incredible lineup of some of today’s hottest hip-hop and R&B artists. They included 21 Harold, evrYwhr, Badda TD, Moxie Knox, Ashoka, Jazzy, Rot Ken, Goon Des Garcons, TK and Joe Lew. DJ C. DeVone hosted and kept the party pumping late into the night.

The music festival consistently draws more than 2,000 performing international artists, and ASCAP’s mission has always been to focus on music discovery and where music begins: with the songwriters and composers at its heart. For the fourth year, ASCAP helped present SXSW Songs, an international songwriting camp held during the festival for established songwriters, producers and artists with commercial co-writing credits. This year’s camp ran from Tuesday, March 14 through Thursday, March 16 at Austin’s legendary Arlyn Studios.

SXSW Songs wrapped up on March 17th with a listening party featuring all participants showcasing the completed songs at The Courtyard and was open to all those with SXSW badges & wristbands.

This year’s SXSW Songs camp featured a slate of 25 participants, including several ASCAP writers, hailing from multiple countries. Participants represented Denmark, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Andrew Farriss of the legendary Australian rock group INXS was a special guest songwriter for one day.

Each day the participants co-wrote with other writers and recorded their songs. The whole group then gathered at the end of each day and listened back to all the songs they created for the benefit and enjoyment of the whole camp. The co-writers changed from day to day, so that by the end of the camp there were numerous songs featuring an incredible hybrid of creativity. 

This year SXSW Songs also received supporting sponsorship by American Songwriter magazine and VEVA Collect. Contributing sponsorship was provided by The Ivors Academy, OpenPlay and Daytripper Music Publishing. Gear sponsorship came from Native Instruments, RCF USA, Shure and DPA Microphones. Additional support was provided by the PRS Foundation, APRA AMCOS and Sounds Australia.

Earlier in the week, ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Director Jason Reddick led a panel, Artistpreneurship, at the Digilogue X Dolby SXSW Kickoff Event. The session offered insight on how artists can succeed on the business side of their career, including how to navigate the landscape of revenue streams and resources and still be creative in the process.

SXSW conference programming on songwriting, publishing, career advice featured numerous ASCAP members including Autumn Rowe, Killer Mike, ASCAP Board member and peermusic CEO Mary Megan Peer, Nova Wav, Ari Herstand and others. A major music keynote interview featured new wave legends Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order.