Have you all read this? (the Economics of SXSW)
...'cause you really should. Very interesting article by the guys from Fucked Up. A little lengthy, but worth your time.
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Fucked Up
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this essentially sums up the reason why I didn't go this year
good read.
interesting
sound argument
I was just about to spit at the monitor after reading the first few paragraphs as Fucked Up have basically been whoring themselves to anyone that would take them...but at the end it all makes sense and he has a solid argument
yeah
think i posted it last week (was probably a 0 replies due to a dull subject line)
Also
I'm not sure that SXSW no longer trying to block unofficial parties is completely true.
Most of the vast number of unofficial parties take place during the day and don't really compete with the many official SXSW showcases at night. However, fabulous independent NY promoter Todd P complained on his website that he had met with a lot of obstruction and resistance when trying to organise his unoffical Saturday evening closing party, including permit problems, difficulties in hiring a PA and equipement, bands being threatened with cancellation of official showcases if they would play his show, etc.
i guess the difference with Todd P is that his shows run during the evening as well.
the day parties nicely complement the evening shows and keep everything ticking over, whereas his are (more) in competition (although not that much, my experience was that most of the people who go are local under 21s who can't get into the real shows)
^this
Todd P and the bands that played his shows were targeted because they are in direct competition with the official SXSW shows in the evening. The only other show that I can think of that did this to such an obvious degree was Perez Hilton's. Perhaps he's so big that he can get away with it.
There were other popular unofficial evening shows as well
such as the PureVolume House and The Austin Imposition at The Longbranch Inn every night.
But I don't think that their evening shows featured bands
playing in one of the official SXSW shows though. I dunno.
Loads of them
Holy Fuck, JEFF The Brotherhood, This Will Destroy You, Andrew WK, DD/MM/YYYY and Turbo Fruits to name but a few.
Oh. Perhaps it's just Todd P then.
Can't read it at work!
Site is blocked: "Category of site: Tasteless"
Nice to read a personal perspective on this
though I still can't believe that any of this is anything less than completely obvious to anyone.
Yup
I was there and work for a company that does all of the things mentioned in the article. Hit the nail on the head with regards to music branding. However, this has been going on for years. It’s all true. How do artists “break” now? TV commercials, Grey’s Anatomy soundtracks etc. No one is listening to the radio or buying CD’s – the money and the listeners has to come from somewhere. I would never say it’s necessary but it’s certainly a driving force behind the broken recording industry. The music industry itself is thriving – you can thank the soda companies for that.
This /\
The points made in teh article are valid, but really are just an example of the wider music industry, within which branding, sponsorship and synchronization have become massively important.
Like he says in the article, that's not to say that all companies involved in music sponsorship are evil bastards, but you can't ignore their impact and influence. Just look at the amount of input phone companies like O2 and Nokia now have, selling packages with unlimited music downloads, and even getting inloved in live music. And the whole Groove Armada/Bacardi thing.
Where the line's been crossed, in my opinion, is the Black Eyed Peas. But I won't start a rant about them now...
i don't really see the issue here
surely all of this is obvious?
the only real losers are careerist musicians that haven't done their research.
by this point SXSW could be completely unofficial and people would still go to Austin every March, surely?
Lots of people do go to Austin during the week of SXSW and only go
to the free parties during the day.
i know i would