At SXSW, the way forward for music and tradition is at all times on show. From packed showcases to shock units and branded activations, the pageant presents a glimpse of what’s subsequent. However behind each viral second and seamless occasion is a workforce SXSW not often acknowledges: freelancers.
They’re the sound engineers working dwell units, the videographers capturing performances that journey the world, the stage managers retaining showcases on schedule, the photographers, producers, and crew who flip concepts into experiences. SXSW depends upon them.
I noticed this up shut at a Latino Victory Fund occasion through the pageant, the place filmmaker Robert Rodriguez took the stage to rejoice Los Lobos — an iconic band that has formed generations of music and tradition — and the documentary premiere, Native Sons. It was the form of second SXSW is thought for: electrical, cross-generational, deeply rooted in place. And like each showcase and panel, it was powered by freelancers—producers, technicians, videographers, and crews whose labor makes these moments attainable, and who too typically stay invisible.
Unbiased employees now make up an enormous share of the U.S. workforce, with greater than 60 million Individuals freelancing at present—almost two in 5 employees—up from roughly one in three pre-pandemic.¹ The “future of labor” SXSW celebrates isn’t one thing on the horizon. It’s already right here. And but, the circumstances underneath which many of those employees function stay something however forward-looking.
And the stakes should not summary. In line with a current Freelancers Union survey, 82% of freelancers say healthcare entry influences how they vote—a robust sign that financial insecurity on this sector is shaping political conduct in actual time.
With the world’s eyes on Texas throughout a pivotal election 12 months, Congressman Greg Casar figured prominently at this 12 months’s pageant. Talking at Axios Home, he made a transparent case that Democrats should show they’re delivering for working folks —particularly Latino employees — are driving a lot of the nation’s financial progress. However at SXSW, that query isn’t summary. It’s embodied by the freelancers powering the pageant itself—employees whose financial realities too typically fall exterior the protections policymakers declare to champion.
We can’t proceed to rejoice the way forward for work on stage whereas ignoring the circumstances of the folks doing that work behind the scenes. In New York, we handed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, guaranteeing freelancers the suitable to a written contract and well timed fee. It’s easy: should you do the work, it’s best to receives a commission—on time and in full.
It really works. However step exterior New York, together with to locations like Texas the place SXSW takes place, and people protections disappear. That hole issues—not only for freelancers, however for the long run SXSW claims to signify, and a future we’re not ready for. Thousands and thousands of Individuals are already constructing careers as impartial employees throughout the industries that energy our cultural and financial life. The query isn’t whether or not freelance work will develop. It’s whether or not we’ll construct an financial system that respects it.
Festivals like SXSW have a possibility—and a duty—to steer. Meaning greater than placing creators on stage. It means committing to truthful requirements behind the scenes: contracts, well timed fee, and fundamental protections for the individuals who make all the ecosystem attainable.
It additionally means policymakers should catch up. States throughout the nation ought to undertake and develop legal guidelines like Freelance Isn’t Free so {that a} employee’s rights don’t finish at a metropolis or state line.
If SXSW is the place the long run comes into focus, it also needs to be the place we resolve what sort of future we’re constructing—one the place creativity is well known and guarded, and the place the employees behind the scenes are lastly acknowledged as important to the story.
- Upwork Analysis Institute, Freelance Ahead 2023: The Rising Freelance Workforce in america, 2023, https://www.upwork.com/analysis/freelance-forward-2023-research-report; see additionally Gig Financial system Information Hub (Rockefeller Institute of Authorities), “Freelance Ahead Information Sources,” https://gigeconomydata.org/analysis/data-sources/freelance-forward.html.
