Looking South...by Southwest

Disclaimer: I don’t own a BlackBerry, iPhone, or flat-screen TV. I don’t want a Twitter, I don’t need one of those miniature laptops, and I won’t buy a Kindle. I’m just saying.

At the risk of sounding miserly, there are plenty of technological gadgets that I can stomach and I would shell out my proverbial paycheck for. If it’s physically possible, one of my arms is firmly embracing technology while the other is dog-earing the page in a book or looking up the directions on Google Maps, not some newfangled GPS device, like they did in the good old days. But I digress.

The big thing going on in music these days (by “these days,” I literally mean between this weekend and next) is South by Southwest (SXSW), an amalgam of conferences and festivals in Austin, Texas that center on new music, independent film, and emerging technology. Musicians, managers, promoters, labels, artists, journalists, and fans all come out in droves to check out the more than 2,000 musical acts that perform on over 80 stages across the city. Even glancing at a fraction of the lineup has me cursing the way our breaks fall and finding myself having to live vicariously through the photos and videos available on the SXSW Web site and through much-revered indie magazine Pitchfork Media.

But a cool little feature in The Houston Chronicle opened my eyes to just how much more than music is talked about (or listened to) at this festival, which is now in its 24th year. As the article reports, “It’s a chance to get in front of an influential audience of tech taste-makers and trendsetters.” SXSW was even a big launching point for Twitter three years ago, proving that indie music listeners don’t all just wallow in obscurity and pretentiousness. In fact, in a March 24, 2009 article, Advertising Age said, “Often dubbed the Sundance of new media, [SXSW] is the bellwether for what lies ahead for digital culture.”

Full of media presentations, music showcases, film screenings, and conference panel discussions, those who attend SXSW get earfuls, eyefuls, and handfuls of a lot more than just the next Vampire Weekends. Innovation and brainstorming are in full force in Austin next week and it will be interesting to see if more and more marketers head on down to Texas this year to get their products out there to an audience lulled into a trance by the beautiful music.

For those readers lucky enough to make the journey to Austin next week, do mind these rules from Ian Schafer, CEO of marketing agency Deep Focus.

--Michael Morella