McDonalds has rethought its initial exploitation of artists at SXSW by now agreeing to pay all acts that showcase during their marketing blitz on the music conference in Austin next week.
McDonalds musician exploitation campaign was exposed last week by North Carolina indie band Ex-Cops. The $94 billion McDonalds corporation had asked Ex-Cops to play for free at SXSW to promote their brand name, claiming that the band would receive “a great opportunity for additional exposure” and that they had the additional resource of “their global digital team on site to meet with the bands, help with cross promotion, etc”.
Ex-Cops told their fans via Facebook, “getting past that rhetoric, at the very least a big corporation like McDonald’s can at least pay their talent a little. Right?
“There isn’t a budget for an artist fee (unfortunately)” was the McDonalds response.
McDonalds then went into damage control but instead of mending the problem created a PR disaster ridiculing the coverage of the story by tweeting “#slownewsday”.
Ex-Cops will still not play for McDonalds at SXSW but have issued this statement on their Facebook page. “We are thrilled that our letter made a difference. Thank YOU for helping us. Artists should be paid for their work”.
McDonalds is desperately trying heal the damage from its PR disaster issuing a new statement saying, ““We are excited to expand our support of music at our SXSW activation where the lineup features a great assortment of more than 20 bands, honoring the spirit of the festival.”
The real question now is why would anyone visiting Texas even go near a McDonalds food outlet when all that great Texan BBQ and authentic Mexican food is on every street?
SXSW Music starts March 17-22 in Austin, Texas.
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