The annual SXSW (South by Southwest) music show has wrapped up in Austin, Texas. The New York Times has a great article about the show. When i lived in Austin, I never went to SXSW. The crowds and traffic around downtown were insane.
The record companies look more and more like they are waging an endgame battle. When buyers no longer want or need what an industry offers, companies must reinvent themselves or die. Lou Reed tells a packed conference hall that bands need the Internet more than a record label. Daniel Lanois raves about his ability to sell music the day he recorded the session. REM performed its entire new album at a listening party, and no one questioned whether the songs would be posted to file sharing services. The only question was how long it would take before the tracks were freely available.
Bits vs atoms
Something smells inevitable here, and it’s not teen spirit. It’s the ubiquity of digital distribution, and how quickly North American and European consumers have embraced the new business model. Consumers still buy CDs, but sales volume continues to drop while legitimate online sales volume grows every quarter.
There’s another Times article this weekend about free music downloads, with these two quotes:
“Of course a panel on online music-business models was going to degenerate into a food fight,” wrote Joseph Weisenthal of paidContent.org.
The stew boiled over when Ted Mico, the head of digital strategy at Interscope/Geffen/A&M records, declared, “I need more marketing and promotion on the Internet like I need a root canal without anesthetic.”
With an attitude like that, I’m sure Ted was thrilled that blogger Perez Hilton hosted his own listening party at SXSW this year. According to this article on the AP, Perez merely attended last year’s conference. This year, he’s an industry player who may announce his own marketing and promotion deal with Warner soon. That’s another sign of endgame desperation. The day I need Perez Hilton to pick my music will be a sad day indeed.
