Members of the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), Secretly Group Union, the NYC-DSA, Bandcamp United, and the Music Workers Alliance gathered at the Penske Media Corporation’s offices in New York yesterday (May 31), staging a rally in support of UMAW’s Fair Pay at SXSW campaign at the 5th Avenue headquarters of the festival’s largest single stakeholder. Musicians Marc Ribot and Joe Dyson spoke at the gathering, along with Downtown Boys’ Joey La Neve DeFrancesco and Victoria Ruiz. “When we demand that [SXSW] pays us more, we are demanding that music workers are taken seriously when we demand our power and resources back,” said Ruiz to the crowd.
Penske holds ownership of publications like Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Artforum, among several other media properties. The company bought its 50% stake of SXSW in April 2021, and the company has maintained the longstanding policy of paying the majority of the festival’s acts between $100 and $250, in addition to charging application fees. UMAW launched its Fair Pay at SXSW efforts in February, ahead of this year’s festival, with an open letter that drew several hundred signatures. At the time, Penske shared a statement with The Hollywood Reporter that it “appreciate[s] the feedback from UMAW and will be doing [its] policy review after next month’s event.”
At this year’s SXSW, UMAW hosted an unofficial showcase that paid acts $750 each, meeting its own proposed rate for baseline compensation. UMAW announced its latest action in early May, and a representative from the union estimated between 150 and 200 people in attendance.
Members of the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA), currently on strike, also expressed their support for the New York protest. At the end of the rally, some supporters joined the WGA picket at Paramount headquarters nearby. Victoria Ruiz drew connections in her remarks. “If we win with South By, if the writers win with WGA… workers win, and we win against all of these companies,” she said.
