There won't be much overhead footage of the crowds and musical acts during this year's South by Southwest festival.
South by Southwest (SXSW) announced in a blog post on Wednesday that it prohibits the use of drones during this year's festivities because of both legal and safety concerns.
"While SXSW may make exceptions to this policy if the drones are used within certain trade show areas where safety measures, such as tethering to the ground are implemented, the airwaves and/or frequency spectrums generally used in the remote control of drones are too congested during the SXSW event to ensure operation safe from interference," the post says.
Of course, the number of music lovers who come out to the Austin-based music, film and interactive festival would make it hard for drones to be deployed safely, but then there are also restricting city laws.
The post cites City of Austin Ordinance chapter 13-1, which limits the how many times a drone takes flight from a designated area.
The decision to say no to drones this year was established after discussions with drone experts, user groups, municipal authorities and aviation safety experts.
SXSW says that the Austin Police Department will be watching the crowd, and have the right to seize drones that put public safety at risk. Those operating the drones could also be fined or arrested.
Austin officials compared the event to a Super Bowl that lasts for days, with more than 200,000 people expected to show up each day. City officials announced on Wednesday other new safety measures for this year's festivities including plastic water filling barricades and safety walls to block off city blocks.
The decision to put up barricades comes after two people died and 23 were injured last year when a car drove into a crowd outside the House of Vans show.
While the barricades will offer concert goers some peace of mind, there will be gaps to allow emergency vehicles and police patrol cars to get through.
SXSW kicks off on March 17- 22 in Austin, Texas.
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Photo: John Mills | Flickr
