Could You Sing Something About Citibank?
This 22nd annual SXSW conference has turned into a delicious shit sandwich. The more bread you got, the less shit you got to eat. The throng of 12K attendees and estimate 1,700 bands have been munching them down by the score with zesty chips and salsa in all the raging dweeb enthusiasm we've come to expect lately.Of course, if you ain't got any bread, you're left with the traditional SXSW snacks, hot turd on a stick, or my favorite, the shit taco. Jon Pareles explains on the NY Times on-line this week, "in an era of plummeting CD sales and short shelf lives even for current hit makers, the festival is full of people seeking ways to route their careers around what's left of major recording companies."
By eating "shit," I mean what Jon calls, "alternative revenue streams:" touring, downloads, ringtones, T-shirts, sponsorships, Web site ads and song placements in soundtracks or commercials.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Say hello to the new boss - same as the old boss.
In order to sort of distract people from the shitty snacks being served 24/7, the formerly musical event has become a celebration of all things media. Face Book, Myspace, Twitter, You Tube, and the internet tubes generally all have a crucial place in the new musical design for living.
More from Jon, "if record labels can't help them, corporations might. Few musicians worry about selling out to a sponsor; now it's a career path."
Pass the ketchup please.
posted by liquiddaddy @ 10:07 AM
3 Comments:
I hate to thread on my posts, but this has boiled in my mind down to a stocky aspic.
Corporations rule the world.
Band width is content-driven. Corporations are recruiting artists to foster content-mining at next-to-nothing costs. They did it in "The Golden Age of Television," and the Brill Building crew in the hay day of rock n roll.
It would be a shame if artists really had not enough integrity to sell out so cheaply.
LD
Senor Daddy,
We say that tagging one's own post is reprehensible.
Sincerely,
Silence Dogwood
Satch Ashore
Sylvestre Pajaro
Joe Tombien
I saw a TV show broadcasting from SXSW. A couple of commentators discussing the hipness of the event. They occaisonally interviewed some bands, but I saw very little live music. What struck me most about the interviews is the musicians seem to sincerely believe they are getting exposure and are somehow making it. Being on TV doesn't mean what it used to - wise up - you may as well be buried in the e-media mire with everyone else on YouTube. The worst thing that could happen is to be courted by the music business now, because - if they didn't ignore you - they would suck out all your heart and soul then spit it out, replace it with marketable silicon nothingness, steal your money, your girlfriend, and your songs, give you a makeover, sue you, then kick you to the curb (after you make them filthy rich) without even so much as a lousy stone-cold smelly shit on a stick with extra flies to eat when you get hungry and have no money left for food. Pass the ketchup, indeed!
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