Canceled SXSW costs musicians thousands of dollars

The spring Texas festival means (financially) autumn for some bands. SXSW is an opportunity for thousands of young musicians to showcase their work to US audiences for the first time. Many build album promotion campaigns and other US tour dates around their festival visit to make it as cost-effective as possible, with most having self-funded or crowdsourced money to finance their trip. NME talked to some British musicians who were about to travel to the US - Welsh band Campfire Social has spent months planning the visit to Austin, losing almost £4500 with the cancellation of the festival, mostly on travel and visa costs. American bands are hit financially too - Star Tribune reports about Minnesota bands Humbird, the Gully Boys, the Bad Man, and Heart Bones who are going to lose hundreds of dollars, a blow for an indie-band. The festival is cancelled, but some venues intend to go ahead as planned with shows they booked, the LA Times reports.