Nicisms

The 2011 SXSW interactive conference is over. The iPads and geek backpacks have quickly been replaced with tattoos (woohoo!) and guitar cases. The change in vibe is palpable, things feel a bit more crazy and slightly unhinged which is great.

Here is my final review of the SXSW 2011 interactive conference:

If you want to meet the best people, talk the most business or have the most fun – STAY ON THE SHUTTLES. Let me explain: SXSW has become so big that people stay all over Austin. To help these people get in to town SXSW has organised a series of shuttle busses to run between the hotels and the conference.

I met some of the most amazing people on these shuttles at all hours of the night and day. My advice if you want to pitch to as many people as possible is become a shuttle driver for the 2012 SXSW.

Things turned around for me and the event but unfortunately that had little to do with the panels or speakers, save for Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms.com (but I’ll get to that more in a bit).

I have made many good connections, met many potential business partners and many more possible friends. All of this is due to the very well attended Panel I participated in thanks to Justin Arenstein. This panel was the best thing to happen to my conference. Word spread about Motribe, people began contacting me and I have set up many meetings with many businesses from around the world. Brilliant.

The only problem with this is that I missed almost 2 full days of the actual conference due to newly booked work arrangements. But hey, that’s the price one must pay I suppose.

But now on to the final day of the conference. I first attended a talk on rebranding Islam. That was dogshit because the speakers thought the audience were idiots and even, at one point, said “Muslims are people too” at the end of some long-winded and irrelevant story about some other rubbish.

But fortunately my conference and my day were saved by Blake from Toms.com. The man is an amazing speaker. He didn’t use any slides, he didn’t pull out any gimmicks or tricks but he still managed to blow everyone away with his amazing story.

His accomplishments with tom.com are amazing. He has given away more than 1million shoes to children in need and has managed to build an incredibly profitable and functional charitable business. His message is that we can all be charitable and that we can all make money. Incase you don’t know what toms.com is, here’s the elevator pitch: For every pair of shoes that you buy from toms.com they will give a pair away to a child in need. One for one. That is there motto. I was almost in tears listening to his amazing story and then in the next moment bursting with laughter.

I left that talk feeling rejuvenated and ready to build my business. I also left with a new approach to many ideas I had in my head. If only all the other speakers had Blake’s brilliant delivery.

The next massive improvement to the SXSW experience was, of course, the Foo Fighters. I stood in queue for 3 hours even though I had the right passes and paid through my you-know-what to attend the conference but it was worth it in the end.

The Foos took the stage 15 minutes after I had entered the venue and started to drink my first Vodka. They did not leave the stage for over 2 hours. The played their hearts out, I rocked mine and I left feeling hazed by their brilliant live performance. What a way to end the interactive conference. If the only thing I paid for was to see them live at the SXSW interactive closing party then it was money well spent.

So I left contented but more seeking the contentment than finding it.

I still stand by my previous post. I was seeking genius on the trip and fortunately I did not find it. What that has helped me realise (and I think I am not getting to the nitty-gritty point) is that a good idea is a good idea irrespective of the location of said idea. Being in the US or UK or anywhere else doesn’t make you better or worse as a leader, a company or a team. There are very good reasons that companies do well in the US and/or Europe but that is another post altogether.

What I am saying is that deep down at the bottom of Africa we sit and we admire those across the shore. We need to stop. For every Mark Zuckerberg who Zucks with your privacy there are literally millions of people who are failing or trying to make ends meat in the US. In South Africa we have class, quality and the will to succeed.

Now, on to the music for me.

The new Jack Parow video is absolutely freakin’ fantasties. I love it. I dig his cocky arrogant vibe, I dig Mr. van Coke rocking out hard. I think the quality of the music video production is brilliant and it could easily pop over on to MTV and no one would know the difference.

I especially love the very loose use of the curse words that rock through the song. These guys are fast becoming my new heroes on the music scene.

Do it, buy the album, watch the video, blow the lid off this song and give these guys the exposure they deserve.

Here it is:

* Originally published on SA Rocks.

Thanks to Matt I have the official Coke Zero Fest press release:

Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Coca-Cola Zero Fest 2009 is finally here this weekend. Thousands of fans are expected on Friday, 10 April at the beautiful Riversands Farm in Fourways Jo’burg, and the picturesque Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West on Monday, 13 April to enjoy a full day of high octane rock. Heavy weight artists OASIS, SNOW PATROL, PANIC AT THE DISCO, DIRTY SKIRTS, ZEBRA AND GIRAFFE, CASSETTE, FOTO NA DANS, aKING and ONE DAY REMAINS are going to give fans just what they have been waiting for-a rock spectacular with no compromise!!

BIG Concerts, the organisers of Coca-Cola Zero Fest 2009, regrettably announce the cancellation of Bullet for My Valentine and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus who were scheduled to perform at the festival this weekend. Both bands, who have concluded performance agreements with the promoter and have received payment in lieu of their performance, decided at the last minute to withdraw on their commitments to Coca-Cola Zero Fest 2009. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus cited personnel changes, which impacted on their ability to perform at the Coca-Cola Zero fest, while Bullet for my Valentine cited studio commitments so they can complete their new studio album.

BIG Concerts CEO, Attie Van Wyk said, “We are absolutely devastated by the cancellation of these two bands. Not only have they not fulfilled their agreements with us, but they have let their South African fans down in the biggest possible manner. And all at the last minute, leaving us in an unfortunate position of not being able to find suitable replacements at such short notice.”
Zayd Abrahams, Coca-Cola™ Strategic Marketing Manager, said: “Coca-Cola Zero is disappointed by the withdrawal of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Bullet for My Valentine; we are however looking forward to the awesome performances from Oasis, Snow Patrol, and Panic! At the Disco and some of the best home brewed talent. All concert experiences that have been planned are going ahead and consumers can still expect a world-class production. “

Bullet For my Valentine apologised to their fans in South Africa. Matt Tuck says: “We’re absolutely gutted to have to cancel these shows, we were proper looking forward to it, but we are really getting stuck in with writing new songs and we have a busy schedule to get everything prepared for recording the new album ‐ which we are all really excited about!”

Fans have an added bonus this weekend, OASIS, SNOW PATROL and PANIC AT THE DISCO will play extended performances at Coca-Cola Zero Fest. The Fest has loads to offer this weekend – Big Sound, Bold Artists, Zero Heroes, Mist Angels, Chill Zones, Guitar Heroes and Zero Zones.

Below is an email that I received on Monday in my capacity as SA Rocks Editor/Owner. Read it first and then I’ll go in to my reasons for liking the way it is structured (albeit coincidentally).

Hi Editor,

You won’t know me – I’m a big reader of 2Oceansvibe and was referred by a link there.

Anyway, I’m going to take a flyer here – just drop a little bait and hope for a bite…

I’m a music producer at the moment, studied at UCT and now living in Johannesburg trying to hit the big time. My record label has recently signed our first artist, a guy by the name of Timothy Moloi and are busy in studio recording his debut album. In the mean time, though, we decided to record a couple of live videos of him doing some covers of cool and interesting songs. Basically it’s just a way for us to get word out, create as much of a buzz as we can. We’ve had an incredible response to them so far and I thought I would share the videos with you:

www.youtube.com/user/TimothyMoloi

Now, I’m sure that you must have MANY people pawning their wares to you, but as a blogger (and in particuler, a South African one), you undoubtedly act as one of the tastemakers of our generation and I figured it would be worth a shot to see if you would like any of the videos. My favorite is the One Republic cover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4fiPe4U_Ow&feature=channel_page), but feel free to have a browse around and prove me wrong! All the artists on the videos are South African – hope you’re impressed!

I’m not too sure what to say from here, man. I won’t beat around the bush – obviously it would be in my best interest for you to actually cover us on your blog and for that I would be incredibly grateful, but if not, a simple personal reply would be fantastic – another viewpoint to see what we’re doing right!

Look forward to hearing from you!

Let me break down the above email in to sections/reasons why I was taken by it and responded immediately.

References

The email references 2oceansvibe, I know I have a link in Seth’s sidebar and therefore know (or feel) a little bit of legitimacy from the email’s author.

Hope and a wish

The author openly admits that he is taking a chance. He isn’t being too presumptuous and assuming that I will obviously respond and act. There are no orders coming from the email, there are hopes and requests.

Know the blog

James (the author of the email) clearly went and read SA Rocks. He knew that I liked local music, liked to help promote local artists and liked to support an underdog. So he appealed to these attributes with: “My record label has recently signed our first artist, a guy by the name of Timothy Moloi and are busy in studio recording his debut album.”

Play on my field

Multimedia and new media content are integral to my world, it’s how I make my living and how I interact with people. So it’s a good thing James didn’t tell me that he hated the internet and would never release any of Timothy’s music online for the world to swipe. In fact, he did the opposite. He sent me links to a YouTube video of Timothy vocalising the hell out of a song I knew “Apologize” by One Republic. He had dropped the bait in my lake and I was not only staring at it, listening to it but chewing on it as hard as I could.

Play to my Ego

The crème de la crème, my ego. James played the game perfectly by stating the following: “Now, I’m sure that you must have MANY people pawning their wares to you, but as a blogger (and in particuler, a South African one), you undoubtedly act as one of the tastemakers of our generation and I figured it would be worth a shot to see if you would like any of the videos.”

How could any self-indulgent blogger possibly say no to a line like that? James got my, hook, link and sinker.

End the pitch

Do not linger, do not be verbose, do not become pedestrian and cliched. Write what you want to write, get it out, close it down and end the email. Do not linger. I hate it when I have to sift through ten paragraphs of shit to get to the point of the pitch. Say what you want and leave me alone.

And here I sit blogging about James and Timothy and will be meeting with them very soon to see how I can help them in any capacity I can think of.

James, well played. And to anyone who is trying to pitch to bloggers that might be reading this, take note: A good pitch will be responded to immediately and will have the bloggers commitment from the word Go.

This post is a follow up to: This is what is wrong with our music culture – Rattex is poison.

I bought the CD. I did it. I’ve listened to it and I am impressed. The production is good. It’s got a great sound and I stand corrected. The guy keeps it local and keeps it as close to his heart as he can.

That is clear to me now and i completely recognise that I wrote the last blog post purely on what I was sent by his PR agency or whoever sent it and didn’t do much of my own research. That was a mistake on my behalf that I will gladly admit to and acknowledge.

I do believe that in future the PR for Rattex should be done considerably better. The Press Release that is sent out should play on his passion for his upbringing, his home, his culture and his skill. It should not direct you to a video that I believe badly represents the artist.

I am not going to suggest how Rattex should create music videos because that is not a skill of mine, I have never directed a music video but when I do, I’ll open it up for criticism to my readers.

I am extremely glad that I wrote the previous post about Rattex. I engaged in some extremely interesting debates with some very, um, interesting characters. Luckily there were a few people who managed to keep open minds, not jump the race card and attempt to educate me.

At the end of it all I have learned appreciation for an artist that I previously wouldn’t have heard or listened to. I have learned more about a culture that I do enjoy (hip-hop) and learned not to follow press releases that are sent to me.

Something I think that my readers should learn: Don’t jump to conclusions (like I did and many of the commentators did). Don’t pull the race card, it will never end well, ever. South Africa is overly Politically Correctly, we need to let go of it, move on and be who we are and want to be.

So do yourself and do me a favour. Go listen to Rattex, do your research, read his bio, buy his CD and open your mind, like I did.