The Daily Swarm

(photo via Brooklyn Vegan)

James Montgomery – MTV:

Terminal 6 at John F. Kennedy International Airport is positively seething with irony right now, filled with guys and gals who are all trying very hard to look like they’re not trying very hard at all. Everyone is headed down to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest, and everywhere you look, there is stubble, matted hair, tattered and unwashed denim, big glasses (prescription and otherwise), scuffed loafers, ratty cardigans, crooked collars, Day-Glo tights, headbands and all manner of American Apparel-inspired lunacy.

Generally speaking, everyone here either looks, a) homeless; b) mentally challenged; or c) both. Which means that I am officially jealous of all of them. Because no matter how ridiculous they all look, they also look totally great, like emaciated, unwashed models in $1,200 jeans, fresh from shooting heroin into their eyeballs or visiting some designer-sneaker boutique in Japan or making out with each other or taking photos of some band that I’ve never heard of. They are the standard-bearers of Hipster Nation, which is as much a state as it is a state of mind, one I cannot begin to comprehend, despite the fact that I desperately want to.

Jon Pareles – NYT:

The record business, or at least the major labels, is foundering as CD sales spiral downward. But SXSW thrives on the plain fact that people still love music: making it, hearing it, dancing to it, even marketing it. Musicians and the hustlers who enable them are hyperactive, making their way in a digitized ruckus of downloads, touring, independent labels, publishing royalties, ringtones and every lifestyle marketing scheme that still thinks music is cool.

The daytime symposiums at SXSW give beginners practical advice on how to build the mosaic of a 21st-century music career. Yet while I’m sure the intricacies of soundtrack licensing are riveting, I spend my SXSW elsewhere–wandering amid the day parties and night showcases of bands, bands, bands, most of them conveniently concentrated just steps apart on downtown Austin’s Sixth Street and Red River.

Joe Gross – Austin American-Statesman:

The biggest myth about the South by Southwest Music Festival and Conference refuses to die, and it’s this: SXSW is the place bands go to get discovered and the place labels go to sign bands.

Like many myths, there’s an element of truth to this, but SXSW has never been just about record companies, major or otherwise, or any one thing at all.

The tens of thousands of people descending on Austin for the start of today’s music festival include bands showcasing their latest songs; label representatives showcasing their latest bands; managers, booking agents and publicists looking for new clients; and fans looking for the next big thing.

If SXSW is about anything, it’s about building and maintaining relationships in the music industry. Or as SXSW Director Roland Swenson puts it: “Our approach has always been to help artists find ways to control their destiny.”

The myth about SXSW as a vehicle for stardom is almost as old as the fest itself, now in its 21st year.

Jonathan Cohen – Billboard:

Although it wasn’t an official South by Southwest show, My Morning Jacket lit up the crowd at Austin’s the Parish last night (March 11) during a private party for the Independent Film Channel, performing more than a half-dozen songs from its upcoming album, “Evil Urges.”

JIm DeRogatis – Chicago Sun Times:

The most notable thing about this year’s bag, in addition to its skimpiness, is a green plastic toy soldier of the classic “kids’ army guys” variety, except this one is holding a guitar instead of a rifle, and he’s twisty-tied to a color card that identifies him as “Sgt. Solo,” brave representative of Armed Forces Entertainment. (Why they didn’t just go with “Sgt. Rock,” I’ll never know; maybe there were copyright issues.)

The blurb at the bottom of the card reads: “Plug in your weapon, turn up the power and fire away. Your limo is a Humvee and your ride is a Blackhawk. For over 50 years, America’s stars have earned their stripes by performing for our country’s greatest audience. Find out if you have what it takes to tour the world entertaining the troops with Armed Forces Entertainment.”

Yes, you read right: These are your tax dollars hard at work in a promotional effort to recruit rock bands to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain our troops. Mind you, if anyone deserves free entertainment, it’s the brave men and women making incredible sacrifices for their country overseas. But really, wouldn’t they be better served by the government spending that money on better benefits and health care, more useful gifts for a theater of war (like adequate armor on those Humvees) or, heaven knows, upping the diplomatic efforts to end these conflicts?

KEYETV:

Central Texas and federal law enforcement say they have busted a major heroin ring in the Austin area.

A grand jury indicted 37 people on drug charges. Police say they seized a half a million dollars in narcotics.

The investigation began in December 2006 after the Austin Police Department’s Organized Crime Division learned of large amounts of heroin coming into the Austin area.

Paid Content (SXSW interactive leftovers):

Of course a panel on online music business models was going to degenerate into a food fight. The only surprise was that about 45 minutes into it, all of the thrown detritus managed to reconstitute itself into something resembling an edible meal. Technically, the topic of the panel was Ad-Supported Music, A New Hope For The Industry?. If what this question means is “can ad-supported music replace album sales on a dollar-for-dollar basis”, then the answer is a resounding no. Nobody on the panel held this view, and nothing in the history of the digital media migration would suggest this is possible. It’s never that easy. If the question is more open-ended and vague, then opinions vary wildly.

Styledash:

Remember five years ago, when blogs were for uber-nerds, and only the truly obsessed checked their MySpace more than once a week? Times have changed. The increasing popularity of social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr has taken what used to get you beat up after math class, and turned it into fodder for the fashion-forward set. The SXSW Media Conference brings the hippest tech nerds from around the world to Austin, TX, for two weeks of trendsetting mayhem. Styledash is on the scene, bringing you all the hot looks from the festival.

Subterranean Blog:

Instead of making it nine (maybe 10?) straight years of attending SXSW (uh…we’re not that old, we went to college in TX and that was spring break) we’ve decided to boycott attending this year. It is simply too douchey and for the last two years we spent more time in hotels drinking than seeing shows so we’ve deemed it useless. Reading the coverage so far from MTV New’s James Montgomery hasn’t made us regret our decision.

NPR Wednesday Webcast schedule:

All Times ET/CT and Subject to Change

Wed., March 12 (Stubbs)

9:00/8:00 p.m.: Johnathan Rice

10:00/9:00 p.m.: Summerbirds in the Cellar

11:00/10:00 p.m.: Papercranes

12:00 a.m./11:00 p.m.: Dead Confederate

1:00/12:00 a.m.: R.E.M.

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South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 2

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 3

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South By Southwest 2008: Where’s the Beef?, Pt. 1

South By Southwest 2008: Where’s the Beef?, Pt. 2