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Taco Bell's Feed the Beat program now part of SXSW festival

March 1, 2013

Taco Bell's Feed the Beat program has teamed up with Passion Pit to create a fan-generated "rockumentary" about the SXSW music festival.

Titled "Feed the Beat: SXSW 2013" (tentative film title), the first-of-its kind project for Feed the Beat — in partnership with documentarian Sam Jones — will take place on March 11 at the Hype Machine's Hype Hotel in Austin, Texas. It will also feature live performances by Feed the Beat artists Passion Pit and Wildcat! Wildcat! that will be live streamed through customized camera angles.

The rockumentary will be made up of footage from fan cameras at the SXSW event and from fans' tweets and posts of images, videos, comments (Instagram) and Vine videos using the #FeedtheBeat hashtag.

After Jones finishes the film, "Feed the Beat: SXSW 2013" will be sourced to all fans for free.

Hype Machine's Hype Hotel will feature more than 50 performances. Fans will also get to try Taco Bell's new Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos for free all week, beginning March 7, one day before the SXSW event kicks off.

For the first time during SXSW, Taco Bell will open up submissions for artists to apply for the Feed the Beat program.

Feed the Beat began in 2005 as an organic effort to help feed up-and-coming artists on tour by giving them Taco Bell gift cards. The program has since expanded to leverage the brand's relationships with network partners and sponsorships, involve Taco Bell's online presence and feature Feed the Beat artists' music in the brand's commercials. In 2012, Passion Pit's song, "Take A Walk," was featured in a commercial for Taco Bell's Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos as part of the band's involvement in the Feed the Beat program.

Below is a trailer for the film project:

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