P.R. Nelson, also known as Prince, blew Austin's to the south By southwestern festival away at a show hosted by Samsung withstand night. The concert was promoted with Twitter hashtag #thenextbigthing, though Prince may be better suited to hashtag #eternalpurplerockgod. It reminded me of the Super Bowl in unused Orleans, where big shows rolled in the shadow of ever-bigger shows in a corporate battle for biggest. All with their own hashtagged branding message.
If last grade was the year of the South by Southwest killer app, this was the year of the aspirational hashtag. Plastered on posts and building wraps all over Austin, hashtags brewed by marketing teams offered the chance to win entrance to not so secret "secret" shows. It's the red-hot ad on the side of the barn, secret show hashtags.
But at the heart of SXSW, sixth Street is all the same full of musicians hoping to be next year's close Big Thing. Industry insiders gather to see what will still sell, whether it be some combination of branded streaming or old-fashioned touring until the wheels fall off. Labels are transitioning from disc to digital, commercials are the new A&R rep, crowdsourcing is the new cash hike up and YouTube is the new publicist. In the musical instrument expo center, I saw a No Talent Required banner. Hoping that doesn't run into on. The business model seems to be kind media engagement for ultimate funding for eventual product for even more social media engagement. And so on, in an endless loop.
In the heart of all this change, South by Southwest is still full of fans and musicians doing double takes in hotel lobbies to see who's who. My hus muckle Jeff was there to attend the National academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gathering, and promote New Orleans CD Patrons of the Saint for Micah McKee and Little Maker. Micah's been gigging all weekend and didn't make it to Austin. He was playing a solo gig last year in New Orleans when author and music buff Allison Davis heard him and asked to buy his CD. But there wasn't one. So she subscribe on as executive manufacturing business, and booked Jeff as producer for Patrons of the Saint. After a year in Blue velvety Studios, it's been independently released.
Now Wonder Days is in rotation on the soundtrack of New Orleans, WWOZ-FM, and CD's are selling briskly at atomic number 57 Music Factory, on Amazon.com if you're not in New Orleans, and on iTunes.
All this proves that as cynical as we can get nearly the prospect of anyone discovering anyone, it happens. After the Patrons of the Saint CD was released, Ogden Museum After Hours conservator Libra LaGrone said she hasn't been so sure a band would make it since hearing Mumford & Sons in a hotel residence hall at South by Southwest. When you believe in an album, CD, download, or whatever we're transaction them now, that's music to your ears.
So if you get a chance, dedicate Wonder Days a spin on Soundcloud below. There's a guitar explosion halfway through. And watch for Micah McKee and Little Maker at next year's South By Hashtag, or whatever we're calling it by then. In the meantime, rock on.
Materials taken from The Huffington Post
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