SXSW fans supporting local music scene

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Many who attended the free concerts for South by Southwest may not have shelled out the money for an official badge, but they were more than happy to hand it over to help support the local music scene.

"I think it's very important," said Rick McGuinness, who was one of several to donate cash to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, a non-profit organization connecting local musicians to affordable health care .

"Oh my gosh. These people have been very generous today," said Kelly Hunka, a volunteer with HAAM.

Hunka had a donation box and was walking around collecting cash at the free concerts going on in front of Waterloo Records at the corner of Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard Thursday afternoon.

"And one of the best thing is, I get to hear stories about, you helped my brother, you helped my wife, you helped my sister. And that brings it home," she said.

"They come to Austin for the music. And they understand the importance. And we got to keep our musicians healthy. We are the live music capital of the world," she said. "That's the funny thing. Folks say, 'That's just a buck,' but you know what, if I can get 500 one-dollar bills, I'm a pretty darn happy gal."

"Probably the busiest time of year for us," said Jessie Johnson with Waterloo Records .

Inside the iconic record store, people from all over the world were buying up one-of-a-kind music.

"You get a lot better quality records then you get at a lot of other places," said Tyler Hollandsworth, who came in town with her mother from the Dallas area.

"Music has really influenced me. The records I bought today, 'Teegan and Sarah' and 'Modest Mouse,' they're some of my favorite bands and I really, really like their music. Their music changed me as a person," she said.

"I kind of think of it as a lifestyle choice at this point. It's the experience of buying music," Johnson said.

Waterloo Records has been in business for 30 years now, and even though more people download music online now, this could be one of the best SXSW sales weeks the company has ever had.

"People from all over the world come to South by Southwest. We have customers that wait all year long to come and see us. People from Germany, Japan. And they visit us every year without fail," Johnson said. "People that can't buy that music elsewhere in the world, know they can come here and buy it."