"And crying that you just can’t make any money. Boofuckinghoo."

LMAO – perfection…..
—
Wade from STILL

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David Tobin:

It’s always interesting when people create a business out of something that started with passion. The higher the structure, the bigger the fall. Sure am glad I never took that job at the label and stuck with making TV shows and throwing parties.

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For me this is the Best one yet Bob

Dan Brooks
Key Music Group

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Frank@primetime-productions:

Sxsw is ok but there are too many people. Too many bands. Having a real connexion with someone is not that easy. 2 A&R guys that have money to sign bands and probably 2000 bands.

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Kevin Lyman:

Yes they can tat played the warped interbnational showcase and will get a deal by next week. Bob you just have to dig deep.

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Speaking as a musician, I have to say, Bob, that SXSW is a very different experience than you just described. To me, this conference has been more about the MUSIC than anything else. Yes I’ve gone to the panels and shook the hands, met Steve Lillywhite and Seymour Stein and all the legends and that’s very exciting for a member of a baby band, but honestly more than that, I’m invigorated by the spirit here – the we’re-all-in-this-together energy – which I think is actually fed by this dying-out of the major labels. The playing field is almost level again and there’s a real sense of teamwork and optimisim amongst musicians (and A&Rs alike) that we can take it over and do it our way. I’m in a pop/punk band, but in the past three days, I’ve seen rap, techno, "screamo", old fashioned rock n roll, singer songwriters, CELTIC music, and lots and lots of hybrids of all of the above. Rock/rap, techno/screamo, rap/rock, Celtic/punk: and I’m blown away again and again by the quality. It has seriously renewed my faith in my industry and made me proud to call myself one of them.

You’re right: SXSW is not about the major labels. It’s about community and inspiration. It’s about the determination of this community to FIGURE IT OUT TOGETHER.

Sam Shaber
www.thehappyproblem.com

p.s. Typing this whole thing on an iPhone has been fucking annoying. Can’t you talk to Steve Jobs? 🙂

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Spunky Munkey:

Good lecture and it made me chuckle, I think John Lennon said it well, something about Ringo and cream rising to the top.

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funny last paragraph!

Leigh Goldstein

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… SXSW benefits those that organize the event. Every good Texan knows you can fool all the people some of the time – some of the people all the time. George Bush is a Texan. Need I say more?

Monte Krause
Art & Music Services
Dallas, USA

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Randy Geider:

Nice.

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Bob,

Have you been to SXSW? If so, you’d know that this festival is about discovery of the new and love for good music, for people inside and outside the industry. By and large, people come here to find the next good thing, not the next big thing. I’ve been coming for 15 years, and in spite of massive growth, the attention to progamming detail here remains unchanged.

While club shows from REM and Van Morrison may help sell badges on Craigslist, the variously known artists playing at the other 67 venues are, for the most part, drawing just fine. People are not just coming to Austin to see the stars.

You are right about the futility of playing here to get signed. (If you want your band to be discovered by the majors here, yer best bet is to play the 4 Seasons lobby, or a strip club.) But if you want to start a brush fire with hardcore music fans, Play SXSW, play multiple shows in the daytime, and play like your life depends on it. And lay off the tequila until after your shows.

Steve Jordan
Founder and Executive Director
Polaris Music Prize
polarismusicprize.ca

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cazio:

DEAD ON !

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Just skimmed but I get the feeling you aren’t here and when you have been, you sat in the four seasons with the old folks. There’s a lot of positive things going on that you probably couldn’t appreciate.
Cheers,
H
Heather West
Bloodshot Records

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From the couch in my humble abode in what is currently tornado-free simpsonville, sc, thanks for making the evening even more enjoyable. Not that knowing that I don’t have to spend my SXSW Sunday humping it back from another fruitless March excursion to the great state of Texas or that Corey is in FLA playing to thousands if spring breakers making it happen without the benefit of the Austin two step isn’t already enough.

Martin W. Winsch
Mountain Entertainment, Inc.

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Bob, live from SxSW, watching loads of young bands doing all "to rent a U-Haul, sleep four to a room and perform a set no one cares about." all with a big smile on their face and a beer in hand even if it’s only 25 people in the crowd, and no badges.

But to them that are what skiing is to you, maybe they don’t initially care about all our music business and deals, they just want to do their favourite sport and enjoy themselves. The way you feel after a good slope is maybe what these kids feel after having rushed through 15 songs…

All in life doesn’t have to be deals.

Best Regards

Anders Hjelmtorp
CEO & Music Evangelist
Export Music Sweden AB – ExMS

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Katherine Desmond:

Yup that’s about right.

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David Rubinson:

"It’s amazing what people will do to make themselves feel good, make them believe they’re making progress."

Yes, like voting in an election with only corporate bought pro war shills running, and expecting change.

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Bob,

You are so right on with this. I’m so glad someone is talking about it. SXSW isn’t worth the trouble if you’re an unsigned band because you will have NO CHANCE.

My story: my band is unsigned with two self-released records, and we applied to SXSW in 2005 in hopes of getting a shred of notice. The closer we got to Austin, the smaller the crowds, but that’s what happens when a million bands converge on the same city all at once.

Our "showcase"? It was outdoors on a wooden planked stage at a venue called The Spider House, which was a pretty hip coffee bar, but certainly not an appropriate venue for a rock band. Meanwhile, a bunch of established, very popular bands are not playing one, not two, not three, not four, but at least five different showcases during the week.

CMJ here in NYC is the same goddamn thing. Bands that already have a label end up playing as many as 10 shows during the week. Meanwhile, there are some pretty awesome bands getting completely shut out of getting a showcase.

It’s basically a popularity contest at this point. I’m surprised both SXSW and CMJ haven’t whored out their respective festivals and renamed them after corporate sponsors. I can’t wait until next year when Bruce Springsteen plays 4 shows in Austin while Van Halen plays NYC for the CMJ Festival.

When does it become too much?

Rob Holmes
Morning Theft
www.morningtheft.net

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A-Men.

I stopped going to SXSW three years ago. It’s a marketplace where no one knows what’s for sale or what the currency is. And to see artists, lawyers, etc. STILL running around like it was 1998 is pathetic to watch. Most artists, no matter how much they "understand" the web, the new paradigm, etc. still want the big deal because that is what turned them on to the biz when they were 15 and their eyes were as big as saucers. They are 27 now and can’t shake that model. It will take another five years of new kids coming up who never got glamorized by a "short tail" success model until we see the end of the "chase the A&R around Austin" game.

SXSW is still the most fun an adult can have in a week. But I don’t have time for it unfortunately, any more than I have time for a week in Cancun.

R. Emmett McAuliffe
SPENCER FANE BRITT & BROWNE LLP

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Yikes. Bad day on the slopes Bob?__

Sorry, i’m just here to see colleagues n great music, hang out and try to figure how I do my little things better. I think many folks including, yes, musicians are here for the same rasons.

__Gerald Moss

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"Can an unsigned band get noticed?"

Yes Bob, If you’re a high priced call girl who fucks a high profile politician who gets caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Not only do you get noticed, but you’ll make millions.

Bob Herman

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your timely email on this matter.

Jeremy
Mix Management

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This is full of contradiction. I like Taylor Swift. She is one of the few country " artists" that can write. And at her age? Wow. She writes hits. She is a star. Don’t hate on her- maybe the system for not encouraging more content and faster, but not her. Remember that you are the guy that gushed for weeks about Little Big Town. I live and work in Nashville and country annoys me- but she is due a lot of credit.

Nobody has answers in this business right now. Do you hate top 4O or the sxsw scene? Which is it? You can’t hate on everything. Are you mad at the agents coming to sxsw for the parties and free drinks or are you mad at the artists for coming because they love music enough to give it a shot? Maybe the agents shouldn’t come if they are really only intersted in Nickelback or some flash in the pan rap artist with ANOTHER damn song about being in the club, jewerly and champagne.

Maybe you just hate the extreme on both ends. Help me understand, Bob.
If you are truly a lover of music, you should be inspired by some young kids who don’t know anything about the "game" but do it for the love. Granted, at sxsw there are a lot of contrived acts- people who grew up in upper middle class singing about how painful life is- laughable. That is nothing but a more underground version of emo crap. But the legit artists that simply love music- I respect them. Do you feel me?

Phil Conner
Nashville, TN

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Kyle Galanaugh:

a little optimism goes a long way.. good deals are still being signed. It may be the end of the "old" music business but the thing i really would love to hear more about from you is…"Lets get excited about the change!" not pissed.. a bad attitude is very apparent to everyone. And as you know OPTIMISM is a MUST in the music business.. even if its good, or bad

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Danny Shorago:

Nice to see that you’ve still got so much sympathy for the indie musician. I feel so much better now!

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you just love to say the same fucking things over and over, dont you?
i used to think you were on the cutting edge, really delving into topics most people won’t touch and making very relevant points that made a lot of sense to me. but this is recycled garbage and your routine is old. you sound like a middle aged self important
egomaniac. you know nothing about writing music, performing music, or being in a band and you sure as shit know nothing about how artists more than HALF your age feel…you know nothing about the people who are REALLY going to change the face of music, fuck REM and Van Morrison and all of my PARENTS’ superstars, they are irrelevant because they are not the NEW, they don’t speak to the NEW and none of them were ever that good in the first place…for all the reasons you commit your life to bitching about! because they lived and prospered under a fundamentally flawed system that WAS NEVER CONDUCIVE TO MAKING THE BEST ART POSSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. god only knows who the real legends are! how bout them apples grandpa UNSUBSCRIBED

James Clelland
Shining Through Booking

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I love it! 🙂

Were you angry, tired or bored when you wrote this?

Best Regards,
Drew Muroff

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Hey Bob,

After reading your SXSW email I kept thinking about a duo I keep seeing in the subways here in New York. I’m on their email list and they always stop me in my tracks and make me miss my train because of their sound. They just sent out an email today about a very interesting documentary they are in about street performing. www.hethandjed.com/news.html

They seem to circumvent a lot of the music industry
bullshit you always talk about.

Thanks,

-A fan

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Matt:

You’re right, and thank you.

Your commentary spoke to my "boofuckinghoo" plight. Thanks for helping me stay on the right track. Keep it coming.

P.S. You will not be receiving my band’s album.

Thanks again.

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Ah, Bob, you jaded fuck.
I couldn’t agree with you more.

Mike Felten

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fsdylan22:

file that one under "must read classic"
one of your best

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I stumbled upon Black Moth Super Rainbow tonight. This Pittsburgh band is unbeilieveable live. If it wernt for sxsw i wouldnt know of them. Bought a cd (artifact, souvineir, what have you) along with many others at the show. Will search out the physical catalog when i get home (they make compelling packages). Why do you always write about the current behaviors of teenagers. Last i checked the vast majority of our national population was beyond that age. Without sxsw i wouldnt know who this band is, and i definitely wouldnt be buying there cds downloads or any other merch. I started my music consumerism buying 45’s and graduated to first lps then cds. Who is to say that today’s youngsters arent going to eventually desire something of more tangible existence than a download?

__Btw. You missed some good shows tonight. Roky Erickson and the Paul Collins Beat being two of them.

__Best,__

Gerald Moss

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Just got back from sxsw. You know we are all concerned about maintaining our dying industry so everyone goes to the Four Seasons to hang in the lobby lounge and to sum it all up i walk out and there is Perez Hilton or 2500 people lined up to hear Motorhead at Stubbs. Yet on the Guitar Hero stage, which was actually one of the best production set ups(non sxsw and free venue) there was any amazing band from dallas playing to 50 people

Did see the great Bob Ludwig at the ASCAP soiree. Wish more people knew who he was Dont use my name here Bob but you have to write more about this mess. Bands come from all over spending on on fortune with NO SHOT But Perez has on on party. So sad seeing this clown walking the streets of austin

The Smokin Music venue at the old Copper Tank was an incredible venue but too few saw it. They were too busy using their expense accounts.

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as an independent artist currently living in a bus at an RV park in Austin, I completely agree that the odds of getting noticed here are not very good. We schlepped our gear 2,000+ miles across the barren wasteland that is west Texas, for a 45 minute set that went almost completely unnoticed, and we still have to drive home.

"rock and roll spring break ’08" is however, the one of the best ways for an independent artist to meet the people that can help further ones career. I have no disillusionment with fame. I know that major label success is an extremely outside possibility and that’s fine. I can make a working class salary playing music and that’s all i care about. I own my career, make all my own decisions, for good and bad, and SXSW is a great way to meet the people that can help me with exposure and find great new artists to befriend. After all, in the long run, I won’t care about how many miles I traveled. But I will care about the friends I met along the way. Plus Texas beats the hell out of Oregon this time of year.

Matt Roley

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I fucking LOVE you! And for the record, as I’ve always requested in the past…..please never re-post my name or affiliation. I oversee digital marketing at (major label). I subscribe to your letter vis my Yahoo, so my info isn’t so readily avail and in case I sould get laid off again (I was part of the holiday layoff’s from (major label) in 2006…..BEST fucking day of my career)……I just don’t wanna be called out as I have a mortgage to pay for…..

In any event….u rock my world everyday with your take on our pathetic industry. I stopped going to sxsw years ago when it poured out while we were doing our _______ showcase at La Zona Rosa and after rehearsals I saw a fucking twister outside my hotel window at the Omni…..I seriously wanted to puke at all the industry people running around with the "I’m important cause I have a badge" assholes…..

YOU ROCK BOB!!!!!

Feel free to repost….just w/out my nbame!

XO!!!!!!!

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Bob, thanks for your blogs!

The music industry is indeed in the middle of a huge revolution. Still, what are their strategies? Meanwhile, small, independent bands and artists make it to their market. As you wrote, simply because they play well! And they make their music available. For many of them, when they make it and get noticed, they choose to get signed. Is this a static move or just a reminicense of past days? Future will tell – but as volumes grow – your own site, community and paypal will do most of the trick. And leaves you plenty of time to go your own way – and continue to play well…

A few examples:
* Those dancing days – young ladies west of Stockholm, made it entirely viral
* Sahara Hotnights – think they did the same – ladies band too
* Robyn – breakthroug at 16! Said "no thanks" to record companies. Behaves much as business slic Dolly Parton
….most examples I come to think of are women – how come?
Are we men slow to get it?

Cheers
from Sunny Stockholm, Sweden

Johan Lange

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Nice post Bob…

A musician I know from Austin,
www.woodyrussell.com
is among the " Not In The Local Loop " in Austin during SXSW
The " Not In The Local Loop " gang refer to SXSW as "South By So What"

Must mention that Woody has played the mainstage at Newport… Opening the final day Elvis Costello ( sp??) closed out the festival.

MORONS…

Keep biting at their asses

peace

john
toronto

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Word.

I’m sitting alone at the continental buffet at La Quinta, feeling grateful that I am no longer playing in a band, living this lifestyle… Everyone else in the room looks like they’re in a band…

I wanted to share a list of fake band names that I offer up when fellow industry schmoes ask who I was excited to see:

Dot Organ
Grundle Toast
Some Fucking Band
Barbe-cute
Oy and Vay

I’ll bet one of these "acts" will start to percolate in the blogosphere. More likely, no one will give a shit because my SxSW experience consisted of alternatively having my leg humped and getting wasted with friends. Neither are productive in the long term. While, maybe drinking with my friends will have done some good. I enjoyed it, can’t wait til next year.

Next year, sooooooo not buying a badge.

Jason Spiewak

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Rose Marshack:

wonderful!

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Mitchell Fox:

…lest we forget…it’s all about bob..

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Ralph Gould:

did you see desol (desolmusic.com) at SXSW. talk about a band that’s close to impossible to put into an category. no one knows what to do with them. any suggestions on how to approach something like that.

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Short and sweet, I like it

Scott

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1700 bands played in Austin during SXSW week. Doesn’t an artist/band playing passionately for a small, or large, audience count for anything? I thought one of the basic fundamental principles was the live medium, where members of the audience are moved to the point of telling their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends…. Viral marketing in that form was around long before social-networking pages.

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Bob I think you need to write a feature on what a rip off sxsw has become for those who purchase delegate badges. Sxsw is supposed to be a industry showcase and it has become nothing more than a cash cow for the organisers. Carbon neutral? Do me a favour, there was so much unnecessary crap in this year’s bag several forests must have been decimated!

Paul Kramer

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Hey Bob

That’s bullshit – an agent, if they do things right MAKES a band those numbers at Pollstar. Outside of the US most people have never heard of Pollstar and the ticket buying punter less aware than anyone outside the industry..

WE and I think I speak for the majority of U.K. if not world agents are in the artist development business and get involved to make traction not because of it.. that’s why you’ll find most agents at this years SxSW at the small showcase stuff.

Didn’t you comment several weeks back that you were not aware of Bullet for my Valentine?

The band are one of our clients – who Paul Ryan here took on as a local band, because he has a passion for developing artists, when they were worth no tickets anywhere and toured and toured and toured them (no shortcuts with this act and no radio either in US or U.K.) until they were. . .THAT’S why they ended up building an audience that drove that first week sales in U.S.A. (and U.K. and lots of other countries)

Craig Jennings – a man with genuine passion who has worked for Sanctuary manages them – for several years until he left and joined Rod at Raw Power a Sanctuary act.

Man you speak so much sense at times but at others get it so so wrong

Geoff Meall
The Agency Group LTD

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If I could shout this any louder, I would: "HELLMOTHERFUCKINGYEAH!!!!"

Perfect rant. Love it. I’m so goddamn sick and tired of these whiny-ass titty-baby bands who think the epitome of success is having a song on the HILLS soundtrack, or hanging with vapid shitheel celebutards in some Hollywood TMZ party zone. Fucking puke.

I’m fielding offers to play in remote shit-holes in Morocco JUST to try and build more fans, to convert even ONE person into wanting more of my music. I’ve played dive bars and clubs that make typical Texas biker bars look like the Staples Center! And I LOVE IT, because of the energy you get from those who get into the music (instead of texting on their mobiles) is what the REAL payment is.

I bust my ass to return EVERY SINGLE EMAIL I get from ANYONE, ANYWHERE who likes my music and tells me they’ve been touched by something coming from my mouth or instruments. THAT, motherfuckers, is success…not shilling for some bottled water company at SXSW (which has become as big a jerk-off clusterfuck as any other mega festival). Stevie Ray no doubt spins in his grave at these hair-gelled, suburban white boys playing post-grunge horseshit and calling themselves "bluesmen". Uggh!

Sadly, I have fans in Austin who’ve asked me to come to play SXSW. But I just cannot make myself stomach all the fucking overhyped bullshit. So I plan future dates that do NOT coincide with SXSW, just so I can honor their requests. It’s gotten so out of hand down there that the last time I went, these damn spoiled rich tabloid whores were there, turning it into another Coachella!

And I’ll play in obscurity FOREVER if I have to – from Rabat to London to Raleigh, NC – but at least I can feed myself and keep making my music my way, and selling enough tracks and tix to grow my base. The day I dream of being on VH1 or some reality show is the day I’ll fucking quit music. The soul – the heart – comes from experiences and life…NOT from chasing a fucking dollar bill. I just wish these damn younger kids with dollar signs of stardom in their eyes would simply LISTEN to some of the legends in music, and LEARN where their great inspirations come from. ‘Cause it sure as hell ain’t from the cover of US Magazine or TMZ!

Rock on

Talley Griffith

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Phil Tripp:

SxSW a response…

There is a great Australian saying that originates from Barry Humphries whose alter ego is Dame Edna. "They’ll never forgive you for your success." And in recent perusals of the more bitter and twisted side of media it would seem the same people who want a free pass to SxSW are the first to chop the tall poppy it’s become 22 years after its humble beginnings.

Hi Bob, I’m just finishing up my sixth SxSW having just brought over 450 delegates and media as well as about 30 bands of the 64 that had been invited from Australia and New Zealand. Before I was exposed to it the first time in 2002, I too was of the opinion that it was a piss up for music biz toadies and a hopeless series of showcases for desperate and dateless bands

But actually being involved in the event, having the feedback of over 1000 of my Antipodean music peers who have attended or played there, I can assure you that your perspective is a bit jaundiced at best and vastly uninformed at the worst.

I kinda checked, since I’m the AustralAsian rep, if you had attended in the past half decade or so or had possibly even shared your wisdom as a speaker as you did at our Australian Music Business Conference last year. I don’t think you are making your comments from actually having been here and perhaps basing them on the whinings of the unsuccessful and alienated minority rather than the majority who find value in the showcases, seminars, talks, mentor sessions, speed dating, 100+ stand trade fair, interviews and other aspects of the event. This in addition to the online networking through the web based attendees database or on the ground in the faces of those they might never encounter otherwise.

You first asked if bands get noticed here and if it matters. In our case, we have dozens of major success stories of bands who played showcases and got deals–agency, management, labels (both indie or major as was their choice), publishers and sponsorship. They range from Wolfmother and John Butler Trio who both got signed and then were exposed to media once entrenched to smaller bands like Airborne, End of Fashion, Powderfinger and even Hoodoo Gurus who relaunched themselves here.

One of the key reasons we love SxSW is our bands, as you know, are born and blooded in live venues and they are able to kill in their short performance slots as well as taking advantage of the day parties, Aussie BBQ, special shows and other opportunities to show their goods. SxSW is the one event globally where everyone who counts to us is likely to be there and easy to access in advance and on the ground.

It also, amazingly, the easiest way to meet and get up with Australian indies and major label, publishing or agency people since they are all here and you bump into them all the time. As one of our major publishers stated yesterday, SxSW is the one time he sees more of his peers in a relaxed environment than any other single event in the year.

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Hi Bob,

Reading your commentary really paints an inaccurate picture about these starving artists or baby bands vying for attention. It’s not all doom and gloom. Sure it’s about passion and bottom line the music, but there still are a few of us out there behind the scenes who really care and have enough passion, dedication and being relentless with their artists that they can make an impact and enough noise without the traditional outlets or support like radio or a powerhouse agent to place them on the map.

Your commentary and Jon Pareles – NY Times article is apples and oranges. His being fairly optimistic.

It’s about the overall full experience of SXSW. Not whether your showcase is packed or what sort of deals you’ve made while here. It’s about as we always know. ‘Building realtionships and vibing with the company or personality/artist. At the end of the day the artist brand and partnership deals have more intergrity and staying power. Artists are smarter, they hustle more and not afraid to ask for what they want.
The social networking sites were all here in full force. Corporations looking to tap in to cool and hipper audiences are latching on to new and developing acts and overall the environment is exciting again. If we can make it through these uncertain times is the question. Where and who’s making money…. The advancement of technology and as we figure out new legislature and ways to insure the artist and company gets paid- the 2 year wait(my opinion) then we will all live very fruitious lives.

Most the artists I observed who came out on their own dime did non-stop promotion, hustling, hard work performing at any chance they could to networking a room, a party, sitting at panels and soaking in information and capturing video and uploading and blogging daily. These artists all made an impact somewhere around the world and made an invaluable impression that will stay in our minds.
Yes of coure it’s great music and passion, but those other ingredients are almost as important.

I’m still in Austin. Haven’t really digested it all and taken it in myself yet but I wanted to respond.

Btw- I have been reading your newsletters for ages. I’m a fan!

Fiona Bloom

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Nikhil Korula:

Bob,

I agree with you on a lot of points that you made in your last newsletter, however, no matter how you slice it, SXSW is STILL one of the most prestigous music conferences/festivals in the country. In the past, I had a bad taste in my mouth from SXSW because of the rejection emails my band, the NIKHIL KORULA BAND, received over the last 2 years in a row, but that never stopped my curiosity to what I could experience both in Austin and at the conference. Well, 2008 was our year. We got asked to play Bonnaroo and not long after our invitation to that incredible music festival, we received an acceptance phone call from SXSW. Coincidence? Probably, but no matter, I headed to Austin with open arms and no expectations.

So what did I find you ask??

Austin is one of the most music filled cities in the country. Night after night, bands flooded 6th Street and all over this wonderful city to share their grooves from around the world and it gave me hope that music, no matter if sold through Wal Mart or out of the trunks of people’s cars, will live on. My first night there, I saw Van Morrison, Daniel Lanois (I also got to meet Daniel after his show which was a dream come true for me because of how much I want to work with him) and closed the night with a cool performance by R.E.M!! My second night was filled with incredible songwriters such as Ben Harper and Tom Morello, Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Cary Brothers, Priscilla Ahn, and my good friend, Sara Bareilles, who is capturing the world over with her breakthrough single, "Love Song." Last night, I saw Airborne Toxic Event, an up and coming indie band who just got their first single on KROQ with no agent/manager/label behind them followed by Rogue Wave, an incredible performance by Vampire Weekend, a DJ set by Moby and closed the night with an energetic show with N.E.R.D.

Needless to say, I am more than excited to play tonight at COPA on Congress Ave. Do I think Im going to get signed from my show?? Better yet, here’s a better question. Ask me if I even care to have a record deal. Haha. I have faith that playing venues like the House of Blues every 3 months, festivals like Bonnaroo and Summerfest and the dedication from our fans will push us to the top. But did I get a lot from coming to SXSW?? I think experience is worth a lifetime of stories and I couldn’t be happier with the experience and stories I gained from this festival.

I hope everyone who loves music gets the chance to understand how much music and art is rising from SXSW. Make no mistake of it though, SXSW is just one vehicle, like any other festival, to showcase the talents around all of us that we may have overlooked in retrospect. Regardless, SXSW is not the destination all artists aspire to reach. It is merely one of the pit stops we hope to come across to share creative ideas and garner more insight into the sinking ship of the music industry. All in all, I look forward to coming back to Austin/SXSW to reconnect with more artists from around the globe and embrace why we all come to this great city in the first place….MUSIC!!

Shine on,

NK