Comments on: Important: SXSW Wristband Info – EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

By: Megan Thompson

Megan Thompson — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:22:57 +0000

i like hybrid cars because they are more energy efficient compared to petrol engines~.*

By: Isabelle White

Isabelle White — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:34:18 +0000

hybrid cars are energy efficient compared to diesel or gas powered cars.-~~

By: sbud51

sbud51 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:52:02 +0000

How ironic that SXSW is a music industry festival. The purpose, as far as the bands are concerned, is to get their music heard so that the public will buy their CD’s and go to their live shows. Do people in the music industry or other musicians pay to get into other musicians shows. Not a chance.Do they buy the majority of CD’s. Not likely. Sure, maybe a few bands will get signed and promoted (booked) by somebody at SXSW, but the majority of bands are just looking for exposure, and there is no better exposure than the general public shouting one’s praises to all that might hear. So to try and restrict that means of distribution is just such a perfect thought process within the music industry. Little wonder that there’s the problems that exist.

By: eminem

eminem — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:48:03 +0000

i am going to steal badges off of people and re sell them.

By: Mick

Mick — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:49:29 +0000

Is THAT the ROYAL we?

MM (ANOTHER drunken out of TOWN douch BAG)

By: Douche Baggins

Douche Baggins — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:29:50 +0000

Smug Alert!

By: Jeffery

Jeffery — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:48:18 +0000

Yes, Ryan, your rant is as misdirected as you surmised. SXSW is a music CONFERENCE for people WITHIN THE INDUSTRY first and foremost, hence the desire to sell as many music badges as possible to those people who may actually get some use out of attending besides getting really drunk and seeing lots of bands. (Why on earth would we want to have even more wristbands competing for admission into the smaller venues, anyway?) After the random lottery for local residents takes place, you’ll be able to pick up the band the week of the festival, as will your +1 friend if you chose to purchase two bands. It sounds to me like you don’t have to both be there simultaneously to pick up the bands, either, since they request the name and email address of the +1 at the time you enter the drawing. Best of all, if you didn’t make the drawing or were from out of town, you can still buy the bands for $180 the week of the fest when they put the remaining bands on sale…but at least locals like ourselves who actually WANT and INTEND to go will have the first wave of bands, instead of those douches who made up most of the Waterloo line looking to cash in.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:33:39 +0000

Long rant here…I’m an Austin resident and have been getting a wristband the last few years and have always sold any extras to friends for face value. I even remember walking up to a street vendor and buying one for $40 bucks back in the 90′s. Anyhow, from my point of view the organizers are only out to make the most money possible. They could easily sell 6000+ wristbands at $80-100 instead of the mere 4000 at $140-180 alotted for area residents.

But they seem to care about selling badges more than anything else, so they set this ridiculous limit on wbands while there is no limit to the number of badges sold (correct me if i’m wrong). Most of the die-hard music fans don’t have $600 to shell out for a badge once the 4000 wbands are gone, so we’re forced to pick and choose a few night shows to try to get into and instead focus on free day shows, which may not be that bad of an option with so many day parties now.

This new “fair” (I mean random) system of online purchasing is even worse I feel, because it penalizes truly dedicated music fans who would make the effort to stand in line for the sake of punishing the “opportunists” who scalp them. But think about it, opportunism is the basis for our entire way of life/economy/survival. People who make the most effort in life are generally rewarded more than those who don’t make that extra effort, whether it is at our jobs or by standing in line for a concert ticket. When I was a UT student, I remember having to cut class to stand in line at the stadium for football tix to the big games (i still graduated by the way). This seems pretty fair to me because I made a sacrifice (boring lecture) for the sake of something enjoyable (probable UT victory). Is it our fault that the SXSW organizers cannot distiniguish between the honest and dishonest people who bought the wbands in the past? Do they know exactly how many of these opportunists sold scalped bands last year?

And this new “+1″ requirement that the other person must also be present to pick up the extra wband doesn’t make much sense to me. If my +1 friend can’t make it in time for pick-up for whatever legitimate reason, is this other wband useless?

I understand the need to stop these scalpers so that others don’t profit more than the SXSW organizers, but it seems the solution is worse than the disease. This reminds me of that episode of South Park (I think it’s called ‘Smug alert’) where everyone starts buying hybrid cars and subsequently feel so high and mighty that they think their farts don’t stink. Yes, the new system guarantees that the wbands will be purchased by random local residents, but the smell isn’t very appealing…Of course I’ll probably end up getting selected in the wristband lottery after this myriad of complaints ha ha.
End of rant

By: gary

gary — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:39:51 +0000

scalpers are problems any time any concert sells tickets, but it’s only a problem because everyone pays what the scalpers want…

by waiting until the last minute… i’ve always acquired a wristband at a reasonable price from locals who just wound up with an extra one… by friends dropping out… or by winning them from a radio station.. or whatever…

my friends/family in Austin have bought them for me in the past… i’ve been going since 2001, this year seems like the 1st road block situation.

somebody put me as there +1 and i’ll get you a case of beer.

By: John

John — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:20:08 +0000

The problem with the wristbands over the past couple of years, however, was that a HUGE majority of the people who dropped everything and lined up for hours to buy tickets were local area “opportunists” who in turn scalped those bands on Craigslist and ebay. Even local folks who couldn’t get wristbands at Waterloo the day of sale were left in the cold by all the scalpers grabbing up the bands. This way, everyone in the Austin area who wants to buy a band has a fair shot at getting one. If you don’t like it, just do the free day shows and alternative showcases, it’s not as if they’re in short supply.