Once a year, the South By Southwest music, tech, and film festival draws huge crowds of people from all over the world, sometimes contributing as much as a third of all of Austin’s revenue for the entire year. Last year (the most recent for which numbers are available), SXSW drew 155,000 people who “injected more…
We are enjoying covering the madness at SXSW 2013 this week, although this time, due to logistics in our editor’s family life, we’re not physically there this year. It’s sad, in a way, to have to watch it from afar, as many can probably relate. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we found six great ways to keep…
Ever failed to buy a limited-edition tour shirt due to the line at the merch table, only to regret your decision on the way home? After all, lines are temporary, but T-shirt glory is forever. TheHub.fm (currently in beta) should reduce the likelihood of that scenario playing out in the future, helping bands put more money in…
It’s a sad fact: Every night, at venues across the land, bands play to half-empty venues or worse. Meanwhile, people who would enjoy the show sit across town, non-blissfully unaware of what they could be doing, if only they’d thought to check. First of all, a plethora of apps already exist for finding out about…
Was this prophecy about 2012 true? Or perhaps this prediction about 2008, if belatedly so? Perhaps because it sits at the crosshairs of live music (where some of the money is) and digital music (where most of the fans are), the prospect of sending live music over the internet is shaping up to be a…
After my panel at SXSW today, several people asked for copies of my presentation about the wildest, wackiest music apps we’ve seen over the past year. The presentation went well, and I even got some laughs and applause, which is always sort of the ultimate goal. I figure if that many people who were there…
With Midem out of the way, we’re looking forward to the next big conference on Evolver.fm’s docket: SXSW, where we’ll represent at Music Apps Gone Wild and Social Music Strategies: Viral & the Power of Free alongside executives from MOG, Turntable.fm, Siriux XM, Facebook, among other things. Each year, the SXSW Accelerator program rounds up some of the…
Herd.fm, a finalist in SXSW’s Microsoft Bizspark Accelerator contest, has the potential to be a killer app. At first glance, it seems great –- a way to search for music happening in a neighborhood, listen to the tracks, and build a playlist. For people living in areas with a wealth of live music venues, or…
Few things are more intimidating than looking over a four-page spread of the 2000-plus bands showcasing this year at South by Southwest and figuring out who to see, where, and when. Fortunately, there’s an app for that. Festival Explorer Austin Edition, a mobile app sponsored by Rhapsody and created by The Echo Nest (publisher of Evolver.fm),…
The South by Southwest interactive, film, and music festival, held every year in Austin, Texas during the Ides of March, is a mobile mecca. SXSW ’07 saw the rise of none other than Twitter, while ’09′s big breakout star was FourSquare. Last year, QR (Quick Response) Codes, those digital Rorshach Test-looking barcodes-without-bars, which any smartphone equipped…
