I attended SXSW in my pajamas

Rather than wait for the Journalists, DJs and Record Companies
(ie: the "gatekeepers") to decide what I am going to listen to this year,
I decided to check it out by myself. I cannot afford to go to SXSW in
Austin and schmooze, so I brought SXSW to me.

You can easily download a torrent that includes (what is hopefully) the best
tune from each of the SXSW performers and then decide for yourself.

The advantage is that one doesn't get "influenced" as much (by the incestuous
nature of The Industry), but the bad part is that one has to sift
through some pretty awful, derivative bands (many of which,
it seems, like U2 an awful lot) and doing so takes hours if you intend to
sample every tune.

Out of 739 songs, I liked 104 well enough to save onto my iPod. I have
found some very nice stuff, and that will probably lead to me buying their
CDs.

If nothing else, it is a reminder of how much great talent there is
out there but how little of it any of us will every hear. It also
proves that quite a few people like "Counting Crows" enough to imitate their
incessant whining.

http://player.sxsw.com/torrents/SXSW_2007_Showcasing_Artists-Release_1.torrent