The Official Unofficial 2011 SXSW Review (The Good, The Bad, & The Repugnant)

Enough time has passed now for the epic-ness of all that was SXSW 2011 to have percolated through my dense layers of cerebrum for me to finally forge an opinion on how it was and what it was all about, and the verdict is...
It's pretty cool.
But go there for a purpose! Don't spend your hard earned money if you have no interest in all that is music. But DON'T go half-assed!!! Go all the way!!! Below I get into what that entails.


Things you'll need to bring if you're an artist...
(In order of importance)


1. Money!!!
Let me tell you how NOT cheap it is! Parking (if you drive there) is $15 - $20 per day for walking distance to the convention center. And cabs aren't cheap either. If you're going to take one in and out of the city every day expect to pay somewhere around $20 each way.
Speaking of money, you should have already booked your hotel room FAR, FAR, FAR in advance. The sooner the better! Seriously, book your room NOW for 2012!
I waited. Bad idea.
If you can get a deal on a room at any Hilton downtown you'll be set. If not, just look for any hotels closest to the convention center. That's where you need to be during the day, and rushing to get there, parking, and walking is a hassle and wastes too much time if you're looking to take full advantage of all the cool panels. That and if you get shat-faced after watching showcases held each evening you don't want to be driving back to a hotel.
The moral of this part of the story is, the closer the better.
Also, you have to keep in mind that everyone working in and around the city of Austin in any service industry is trying to eek out a living like the rest of us, so it's understandable that they're trying to take full advantage of the festival while it's going on. Just a reminder.


2. Great walking shoes!!!
I can't stress this enough! You will be walking all over hell's half acre, so dress accordingly. If you're a woman and want to dress to impress, that's cool and all, but I swear by all that is Holy and Just, you will rue the day if you brought nothing but high heels to SXSW.
Speaking of apparel, pack/dress for good weather. It's held in March, and Austin, Texas in March is nice! Not too hot, but definitely not too cold. I walked around day and night in jeans and a T-shirt and was comfortable.


3. Contact information!
This entails business cards, demos, having a website up and running with your best foot forward posted on it. You will use each of these tools! Everyone will expect that you have these. I was lucky. I've been doing this a while so it was understandable that I'd have these things, but if you're new to the game think of it as a business, BECAUSE IT IS! And every professional there treats it as such.
While you're there you'll be meeting artists that in the next few years will be coming through your radio. I know this to be true from personal experience. Who knows, it might be you we all are listening to the year after.
Also, be ready to hand out your demo, business card, any and all contact info. People WILL ask you for these! Especially if you're doing good work. Don't flagrantly go handing them out though. Wait to be asked, or at least know the appropriate time to offer. No one likes crap being pushed on them. Just watch for the opportunities.
A demo is a must if you're looking to at least get some feedback on your material. They have panels of producers, engineers, writers, and arrangers that will critique your work, and I know for a fact that some of those people are scouting! So get a demo of at least one song recorded well and bring a handful of copies.
Here is the only negative thing I will say about these demo listening panels...
There will be engineers, producers, record execs on these panels listening to your stuff, so unfortunately they're listening to the "sound" of it not the content. That, and they'll only listen to approximately 1 minute of your song and start critiquing it. We all know that's not really enough time to formulate any educated opinion. I could compile an endless list of superb artists with equally superb songs that don't really get going until that 1 minute has passed. Anyway, the moral here is bring your catchiest, most mainstream song you have and hope they go easy on you. Or don't. Try bringing your most outlandish stuff and roll the dice. The music industry's always been and always will be a crapshoot.
Also, don't expect you're going to get signed or some equivalent. I didn't really hear much positive feedback from any of the demo sessions I attended, however, don't think that the demo listening sessions are the be-all-end-all of where you're going to run into influential industry people. They're EVERYWHERE! No joke! They'll walk right by you in the hallway.
I recommend having a list of people from the SXSW schedule that you REALLY want to hear speak, be it an artist at an interview, a panel of engineers or producers, or whoever, and get your happy ass in there and sit up-friggin-front! Make eye contact with these people, and most of all ask good relevant questions! They'll want to talk to you you afterward. It happened to me and that's how I played it.


4. A good friggin' attitude!
Nothing beats this! I've put it as number four on my list of importance, but only because it's the glue that binds all the other stuff above. Kind of how a drummer gets so much crap but everyone in the band knows he's the bus driver of the band.
Anyway, go with a good attitude, no unearthly expectations, a positive curiosity for the industry and all the people you'll be rubbing elbows with, and just soak it in.
The better your attitude the more fun I really believe you'll come away with having. And everyone likes the fun guy. I'm a Fungi!


5. A pen!
A notebook would be handy too. A real one, not some Macbook Pro or some shit. I saw those people and wondered what the hell was so G.D. important? Everything they needed was there! I guess a phone with internet capabilities would be cool and convenient, but there are information kiosks in the convention center with computers for you to use if need be.
Maybe they were the REALLY important people with desperate needs to communicate with the farthest reaches of modern humanity. If you are one of those people I recommend bringing your laptop, or at least a tablet.




Appendix A:
Buy at least the Music Badge!!! If you don't you won't be getting into ANY panels and will be standing in ridiculous lines for official showcases around town. They sell a Music badge, a Gold badge, and a Platinum badge. The music badge is really all you need if you're just attending the music portion of SXSW. The other two don't get you in to anything extra during this portion. And if they do I don't know anything about it, and frankly was too busy to care. But get them as soon as they're advertised because the longer you wait the higher the price goes up on them. It's significant too. When they released them this year before the festival they were $450. As the date got closer the price was teared, so the week before the price was at its highest at $750. Again the moral here is "The sooner the better!"




To make a long story a bit longer, SXSW is in my opinion, for the artist, a tool. Like your primary instrument or perhaps favorite Pro Tools plugin. It's just a tool. A damn fun one, but still just a tool. Use it to your advantage and you'll come out on top one way or another. And realize that they'll all be back next year and that there's a lot of work to be done and shows to be played in the meantime.


~me.