The record industry is doomed. We know this, they know this, it might as well be a blood pact at this point. Our vestigial fantasies of The Working Musician subsisting purely off of album sales are long dead, and all we're left with is this ill-defined era of corporate sponsorship, endless tours, VEVO, and 36-cent Spotify checks. Remember when Blockbuster was on its last legs, and the posters, figurines, and Raisinettes dominated a floorspace that used to belong to movie rentals? That's the feeling I get whenever Nicki Minaj presses play on a Beats Pill in a music video.
Through all this, SXSW has beamed; a constant, shrieking light of unwavering optimism in a terminal business. There was that boom period, about five years ago, when...
Inside the purgatory of SXSW music marketing panels
