Creating a SXSW playlist (by downloading select showcasing artist’s MP3s from sxsw.com/music) to carry with me on my iPod or iPhone has been a way for me to really get to know bands that are completely foreign to me—literally—prior to stepping foot on Austin soil. Listening to bands from all over the world that expand on the breadth of music that is SXSW, along with some of my favorites who also happen to be playing, has helped the planning process and brought rewards months after the last band has played and we all go home.
This year things are a bit different.
There is a new SXSW Play iPhone application, which enables us to view films that are set for screening, listen to showcasing bands organized by alphabet, and then add those films and bands to our my.sxsw.com schedule. It’s a great and convenient application, especially after the recent upgrade that fixed some crashing issues (emphasis on some), enabled faster loading and enables you to search for bands by alphabet.
The new my.sxsw iPhone application also enables you to do the same thing; you can search for a band as you would on the SXSW website, and then listen to a track, view Event Details and add the Event to your schedule.
Thing is, I still can’t listen to a SXSW music playlist while I’m running or driving in my car. The SXSW.com site still enables you to listen to a showcasing band’s MP3—BUT—you’re not able to download a given artist’s song.
Instead, there is a SXSW MP3 player, which I tried today (Saturday, March 6). There must only be 20 or so tracks on there, at least currently. After a while the songs repeated in the exact order that they played originally. So this feature is limited. It also has bands on there, like Steriogram that aren’t playing SXSW, which was confusing.
The SXSW site has a link to listen to a ShoutCAST SXSW Internet radio station, but it doesn’t allow you to fast forward or search for bands…since it’s a radio station.
There is a solution to all this. Whether it is considered legal downloading of music is another question.
And yes, legal music downloading is still an issue, even in 2010.
Word from the Twitter street is a bit torrent download – http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/ – with 646 Showcasing SXSW Artists (3.35 GB download), and that’s just Part 1. Part 2 is expected soon with another 200+ songs. After running the download you’ll need to also get a bit torrent client, if you don’t have one already. The the bit torrent site provides links to those clients if you don’t.
NPR also has a Free ‘NPR Music At SXSW’ Sampler, featuring:
“Written in Reverse” by Spoon from Transference
“The High Road” by Broken Bells from Broken Bells
“I Learned the Hard Way” by Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings from I Learned the Hard Way
“Canadian Girl” by The Walkmen from You & Me
“Girl In Love” by Smith Westerns from Smith Westerns
“Airplanes” by Local Natives from Gorilla Manor
“Everywhere I Go” by G-Side from Starshipz And Rocketz
“Cleo’s Song” by JBM from Not Even In July
“Achille’s Heel: IV. Shur Landing” by Brooklyn Rider from Dominant Curve
“Hannah” by Freelance Whales from Weathervanes
“Swim” by Surfer Blood from Astro Coast
Don’t forget our own Kaffeine Buzz MP3 player (available on our side bar, with a pop up window so you can browse the site while rockin’ to the tunes), featuring just a few of the many artists playing SXSW that we feel deserve attention, including A Shoreline Dream, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Let’s Wrestle, Alvarez Kings, Anti-Pop Consortium, Race Horses, Casio Kids and Zlam Dunk, with more to come.
The Music portion for SXSW starts in a little over a week and a half – March 17. So if you get started now and don’t sleep much, you should be able to listen them all. Maybe.
