Le revue

Maybe I’m deluded here, looking for “authenticity” in a place where it doesn’t exist anymore, saying something that many of you have been complaining about for years, but every time an artist the size of Timberlake or Green Day performs at SXSW they are literally stealing attention, and money, and fans, out of the hands of the 1,500 or so bands who shlepped all the way down there to ply their wares in front of the industry’s taste-makers. SXSW is a zero-sum game — there are a finite number of chips on the table, and there are winners and losers. Timberlake doesn’t need the fans, he doesn’t need the buzz, and he doesn’t need the torrent of “festival highlight recaps!” that will be written about his performance. Every blog post and magazine article written about Timberlake and Green Day is one that will not be written about an unknown band, because assholes like me will go out of our way to get into the show just so we can let assholes like you know we got into the show.

Luke O’Neil FTW (again) on one of the many reasons why I’m not in the least bit sad about bailing on SXSW this year. (via hilaryhughes)