Every year I rehash the dilemma of how much money to donate to SXSW. This year badges cost $575 and wristbands are completely sold out. The SXSW website doesn’t even mention that wristbands even exist as far as I can tell. The best way to get a wristband would probably be eBay if you’re willing — bidding starts around $250. And that doesn’t include beer or lodging.
The badge cost would have been much more bearable if I had acted earlier. Committing to SXSW before the end of September would have saved a couple hundred dollars per badge, but it’s two weeks away and I still don’t know if it’s worth going — how was I supposed to know way back then? At least Annette was prescient enough to reserve a couple hotel rooms just after SXSW 2005, so we’re set there. Maybe we should sub-lease the spare room to cover the cost of the badges…
Or we could risk going down to Austin without any credentials at all and just squeeze our way into the millions of parties and free showcases. Last year that’s pretty much all we did anyway. It would severely limit evening showcase hopping — we’d probably just have to pick one club for each night and get there early enough for them to let us in for a cover charge — but it might work. Besides, I think the new measure of music industry indie-cool might be to spend a week in Austin seeing music every night, downing mini-quesidillas and drinking margaritas on someone else’s promo budget, and having a good time without a badge. Or maybe that’s a groupie?
Now, if I sound bitter, it’s because I am. SXSW is usually a lot of fun, but with so many bands, industry-folk, showcases, sponsored events, and out-of-towners it can get kind of complicated. Plus the SXSW organization charges more than it should be able to get away with. And it’s unavoidable, but no matter what I end up seeing or doing every year I always feel like there was something I completely missed so I end up coming back home feeling awkward. I’ll know that I didn’t fully take advantage of whatever opportunities there were at SXSW. I didn’t discover the newest, coolest band. I didn’t schmooze the right foreign distributer. I didn’t end up at that late night party trading shots with Michael Penn. I didn’t drink enough free beer.
I’ve only got about a week to make the final decision. Guess I should have started saving up a little sooner.