MUSIC BUZZ: SXSW // Taylor Swift // Spotify

Filed Under: Buzz — By: Oliver Bouchard

It’s a mere seven weeks to SXSW Music. The list of showcasing artists is already impressive, with more joining every week. Elke and I are working through this list and trying to listen to as much music as possible. Find our discoveries here and on our Facebook page.

One thing is different this year: in 2014 the lineup was stuffed with many of our favorites, so for us the appeal was mostly to see artists we had already seen in different environments. In 2015, it will be all about discovery, though. And that’s what SXSW is for.

While doing our SXSW preparation, we follow the to the artist’s webpage and often are puzzled how little thought went into their internet presence. Here are some tips what not to do on a band website. I would add one more rule to it: make it easy to listen to your music. Soundcloud, Bandcamp or YouTube do the trick. I’m amazed how many artists don’t use the opportunity for some free self-promotion and present the potential fan with some good music at first sight. And no, I won’t head to iTunes and buy a record blindly.

Taylor Swift trademarks some of her lyrics, so only she can use it on merch of all kinds, including Christmas ornaments. Apparently phrases like “this sick beat” and “we never go out of style” have some special meaning in Taylor-Swift-Land, for me they sound rather generic.

Spotify may want to raise $500 million more. That’s all normal business stuff, but it’s mind-boggling why it costs so much to get music from the creators to their audience.