The other side of the SXSW story

If any of you is contemplating putting on a music festival, you should probably follow along with the discussions concerning SXSW.

One thing that is particularly interesting is that if you live by the blog, you can die (or more accurately, be stung) by the blog.

The Austin Chronicle: Columns: SXSW Is for Lovers: "4) There are two major areas of discussion regarding SXSW 07 that raise legitimate concerns (keeping in mind that 'concerns' and 'damning, vicious assumptions' are by no means the same thing). The city waived $90,000 in fees for SXSW 07, and since I have recently written about how the city has not given SXSW financial support, I have to address this issue.

The other area of concern is that a number of non-SXSW parties were shut down during the Festival, and many blame SXSW for this. They insist that SXSW specifically targeted certain parties, which they had the fire marshals close down.

These accusations not only made the backlash more public than usual, but were taken as a license – especially by the most hate-intoxicated, self-righteously enraged bloggers – that anything they felt like saying about SXSW could and should be posted. Many felt they had the right to state any charge against SXSW that came their way – not as a possibility and/or an accusation, but as an undeniable truth. Although these charges were sometimes rather disingenuously framed as 'questions,' they almost always were in actuality offered as statements of absolute fact."

SXSW
music festival