1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: and how the tech are You? And for today's episode, 5 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: I really show said how do y'all how you're doing? Because, 6 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: um so, I might be attending south By Southwest this year. 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: It's a big event that happens in Austin, Texas. So 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: I thought it might be cool to look back on 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: the history of south By Southwest or south By. I 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: guess if you're one of the cool kid I'm not 11 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: one of the cool kids. I say south By Southwest 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: every single time. It's often designated as s X s W. 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: The X is and LORI case and everything else is capitalized. 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: Um yeah, I just called it south By Southwest because again, 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: not cool. This isn't news to you, you know it, 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: And I thought I would chat about how it really 17 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: got started, especially since it all started off as a 18 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: music festival where a bunch of bands came together to 19 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: play in various Austin venues to crowd So how the 20 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: heck did tech get involved in that? And how did 21 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: it become such a big event? For tech that arguably 22 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: you could say tech has taken over south By. Look 23 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 1: I did it well. The story actually begins in the 24 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties if we want to look at what formed 25 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: south By Southwest. South By Southwest would not have its 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: first actual event until the late eighties, But in the 27 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, Austin, Texas was really a standout in its state. 28 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: It wasn't like other parts of Texas. So Texas has 29 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: a reputation for conservative politics and also having a very 30 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: fierce independent streak that that's part of the Texas identity, 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: and Austin is a little bit different because for a 32 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: few reasons. One is that had a very large public 33 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: university still does, a very good university, the University of Texas, 34 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: and the culture at the University of Texas was far 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: more liberal than what you found in most of the 36 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: state and around. The university grew up this kind of 37 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: liberal community. It was a community filled with artists and 38 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: artisans and and craftspeople and all sorts and uh, lots 39 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: and lots and lots of music. So this is all 40 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: starting to come together. In the nineteen sixties, Austin was 41 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: definitely not a conservative city, even though it's the capital 42 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: of Texas, and the politics going on in the Capitol 43 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: building might have been very, very conservative, but Austin as 44 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: a city just wasn't. Meanwhile, at the same time, you 45 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: had these small businesses that were establishing them selves in 46 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: the city, many of them surviving because of the proximity 47 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: to this university, and they started to get really, you 48 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: know established in bigger, bigger businesses in the tech field, 49 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: in particular like IBM and you know, Texas Instruments and 50 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: a m D. They started to set up facilities in Texas, 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: and part of the reason for that was that they 52 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: wanted to lure away students who had just graduated out 53 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: of the University of Texas to come in and be 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: part of the workforce, to get young talented people to 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: join and to therefore continue to stay in front of competitors. 56 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: So this area of Texas became very important within the 57 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: tech sector. Obviously, we think of Silicon Valley here in 58 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: the United States, which is in California, as being really 59 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: important in tech, and it is a lot of incredibly 60 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: influential companies grew out of Silicon Valley, but Texas was 61 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: also and still is very very important in the tech sector. 62 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: So this was part and parcel with the the evolution 63 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: of Austin as a community. You had a very tech savvy, 64 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: pretty liberal city that was expanding in the sixties and seventies. Uh, 65 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,239 Speaker 1: the vibe of the city itself was kind of young 66 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: and adventurous and experimental like this again very experimental era, 67 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,799 Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies. In fact, later on, much much later, actually, 68 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: the motto keep Austin Weird would emerge. That was effectively 69 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: coined in around two thousand, so it would come much later. 70 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: But that concept of keeping Austin weird, it was kind 71 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: of paying homage to the Austin of the sixties and 72 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 1: seventies that became this this big city of the arts 73 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: and of music, and also of drinking. So in nineteen 74 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: seventy three, Texas changed the state laws to allow eighteen 75 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 1: year olds to drink legally. Here in the United States, 76 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: the legal drinking ages twenty one, but in nineteen seventy 77 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: three Texas lowered it to eighteen. Now it's a college town. 78 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: You've got all these young people who are perhaps away 79 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: from home for the first time in their lives. Obviously 80 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:31,039 Speaker 1: drinking would become a big part of the experience of 81 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: going to the University of Texas and UM you had 82 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: a lot of bars that would rise up around this time, 83 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: especially around campus. So to this day, if you go 84 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: to Austin, Texas and you walk down, I want to say, 85 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: it's sixth Street. It's been a long time since I've 86 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: been there. But it's just like lines of bars, bar 87 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,799 Speaker 1: after bar, with occasional like shops and restaurants thrown into 88 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: but a lot of bars, and in order to kind 89 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: of establish themselves stand out from their competition, a lot 90 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: of these bars would end up also having a space 91 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: for musicians to play and they would have live music. 92 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: And so Austin, Texas became known as this live music 93 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: capital where you could go to that that town and 94 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: on any given night you could go to one of 95 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: a dozen bars and see a different band playing. So 96 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: my music scene became a really big deal in Austin. However, 97 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: by the time you get up to the nineteen eighties, 98 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: things were starting to change. There were a lot of 99 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: snags that were slowing down Austin's growth and in fact 100 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: impeding it in several ways. So, for one thing, there 101 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: was a banking crisis that ended up hitting the economy 102 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: in general, but Austin's economy in particular, and that really hurt. Uh. 103 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: Texas also lost out on that drinking age thing because 104 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: during the Reagan administration there was a federal law pass 105 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: that set the national drinking age to twenty one, so 106 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: then you don't have the eighteen year olds allowed to 107 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: go into bars and drink anymore, which obviously meant that 108 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: there was a big hit to the bar scene around 109 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: the University of Texas, and this really had a pretty 110 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: big impact on Austin's local economy. But then a group 111 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: of folks came up with one way to potentially help 112 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: Austin regain some of its its footing and bring more 113 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: attention to the city itself. So, like I said, the 114 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: city had already established that it was a very active 115 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: and important music scene, but for the most part, the 116 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: only people who knew about it were the people who 117 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: lived in Austin. So you had like the college students 118 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: and the locals the townies who knew about the music scene, 119 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: but anywhere outside of Austin it just wasn't looked at 120 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: as a music city. So the thought was, maybe we 121 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: could throw a music festival and attract more people to 122 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: the city and and uh, some movers and shakers in 123 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: the Austin scene would start meeting at the Austin Chronicle, 124 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: the newspaper in the city, and the meetings were really 125 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: kind of like top secret because they were really kind 126 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: of putting their heads together on what would be the 127 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: best way to do this that could potentially get us 128 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: some more attention. Among the brainstormers, there was a guy 129 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: named Louis J. Myers. He was a manager for various 130 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: musicians and artists, so he came in there from that 131 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: business perspective. You also had Louis Black, not the comedian, 132 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: but rather an editor for the Austin Chronicle. You had 133 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: Roland Swinson, who would go on to become CEO of 134 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: south By Southwest and then later on the executive chairman, 135 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: and he had a few others as well. And so 136 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: they would meet and start brainstorming about this idea for 137 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: a music festival. And they decided that if they were 138 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: going to have a music festival, they wanted to make 139 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: sure that they named it in such a way that 140 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: it represented the region and did not take it Austin centric. 141 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: Even though the festival was going to take place in Austin. 142 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: They didn't want to call it like the Austin Music 143 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: Festival because they were worried that that wouldn't attract people 144 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: from out of town, it wouldn't accomplish the goals they 145 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: had set out, which was to kind of raise the 146 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: profile of Austin and at least the regional, if not 147 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: nation estimation. Right. So, after much debate, they decided they 148 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: would call this new music festival south By Southwest. They 149 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: obviously took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's film north By Northwest, 150 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: but it made sense like they would feature a lot 151 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: of musicians, a lot of musical acts that grew out 152 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 1: of the south and now the Southwestern areas UH and 153 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: in fact, a lot of the bands that have played 154 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 1: there over the years are ones that I saw in 155 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: little local establishments here when they were just starting out. 156 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: So they announced this intention to have a music fest 157 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: in October nine six. The actual event would take place 158 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: the following March March of nine and according to all 159 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: the histories I can see, although it blows my mind 160 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: if this is really true, it really is strange, but 161 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,839 Speaker 1: all the histories I saw said that when they were 162 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: putting this together, the founders thought that maybe they would 163 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: attract around a hundred fifty people to come to this 164 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: music festival. Now, the reason why I find that hard 165 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: to believe is that this music festival also had one 166 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: seventy seven groups and artists performing at fifteen different venues 167 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: across the city. So, in other words, I find it 168 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: hard to believe that they were putting together an event 169 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:48,679 Speaker 1: where the musicians would out number the people attending the festival. 170 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: Not to be fair, I have also been in theatrical 171 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: productions that ended up that way where the cast of 172 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 1: the show I was in out number or the audience 173 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: that attended on a given night, which I always found 174 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: kind of sadly comforting because I thought, yeah, well, even 175 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: if the show does go really bad, we have the 176 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: advantage in numbers, we could probably take them. That actually 177 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: did happen to me a few times with a staged 178 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: production of A Clockwork Orange. Um, in case you're curious, Yes, 179 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: I was in the stage production of a Clockwork Orange. No, 180 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: you cannot see the pictures because I was in leather 181 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,199 Speaker 1: chaps and a mess shirt. And I played victims too 182 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: through seventeen. That was essentially the characters I played. Anyway, 183 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: A hundred fifty people did not show up that first 184 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: south By Southwest. Instead, it was seven hundred people around there, 185 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: so wildly successful considering what the organizers were first envisioning. 186 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: I still think that estimated hundred fifty attendees was incredibly pessimistic. 187 00:11:57,960 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: It's hard for me to believe that, but seven hundred 188 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: not bad. Still pretty modest really when you think about 189 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: music festivals. I mean a lot of the music festivals 190 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: here in Atlanta, especially the big outdoor ones, can bring more, 191 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: well more than ten thousand people for a single performance. Now, 192 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: I took a look at some of the acts that 193 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: played in nineteen seven. The only one that jumped out 194 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: at me that I recognized right away was the Reverend 195 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: Horton Heat because I saw his band play live when 196 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: I was in college in Athens, Georgia. So I've seen 197 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,240 Speaker 1: the Reverend Horton Heat live, which was a great show. 198 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: By the way, it's nice, small venue, it was high energy. 199 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: But he was the only act that I recognized in 200 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: a in a short list. I didn't see the full 201 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: seven breakdown though, So this event was big enough to 202 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: gain enough success in and convince the organizers that this 203 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: was a good idea and they should make it a 204 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 1: yearly thing. They also even had a keynote speakers even 205 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: at that first event. It's it's weird to think about 206 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: because most music festivals don't have a keynote speaker, but 207 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: south By Southwest did right from the very beginning. Their 208 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: keynote for nine seven was Huey mo that's m. E. 209 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: A u X. And he was a record producer, so 210 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: he was kind of there to talk about sort of 211 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: the business side of things. That's another thing is that 212 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: south By Southwest has always had a little bit of 213 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: like a professional conference vibe to it as well. So 214 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,599 Speaker 1: you've got like the music festival stuff and all the performances, 215 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: but you also have the various panels and conversations and 216 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: interviews that are meant to increase awareness and understanding of 217 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: business elements and ways to have to go about monetizing 218 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: or leveraging your creativity in ways that are practical and productive. Okay, 219 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,679 Speaker 1: so that's setting the very basics there. Over the following 220 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: years they had a lot of other mus schol artists 221 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,439 Speaker 1: that would include folks like Billy Ray Cyrus and his 222 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: achy bricky Heart Mojo Nixon, who tells you that Elvis 223 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: is everywhere. Jen Blossoms, the del Lords, I love them, 224 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: Bighead Todd and the Monsters, the Chicks formerly known as 225 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: the Dixie Chicks, Driving and Crying from my own hometown. 226 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: Hometown Boys represent Bear Naked Ladies, Bella Fleck and the 227 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: Fleck Tones, Southern Culture on the Skids. Love that band 228 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. They're the band that 229 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: actually created the theme song to the Kids in the Hall. 230 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: If you ever watch that show, Cracker, Lisa Lobe Ever, Clear, 231 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: Meat Puppets, tons and tons and tons of bands. This 232 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: is just up into the early nineties because until the 233 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: mid nineties, south By Southwest was just a music festival. 234 00:14:54,560 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: But all that would change in and I'll explain more 235 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: at we come back from this break. Okay, before the break, 236 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: I mentioned that south By Southwest was this growing music 237 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: festival was getting really big over the years. By they 238 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: had more than four hundred sixty musical acts across the 239 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: various venues around Austin participating in this festival. So remember 240 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: it's like a hundred seventy seven for the first year, 241 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: four hundred sixty by um, not even a full decade 242 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: into the festival yet, and it was really neat. You know, 243 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: for one price, you could get admission to all the 244 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: shows that you could dream of seeing based upon their 245 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: schedules and your ability to get around town. But yeah, 246 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: you could by this one admission and go see as 247 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: many bands as you want throughout the festival. Well, in 248 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: the festival expanded beyond just adding more musical acts. This 249 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: was also the year that the festival grew to include 250 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: films and multi media content. Now, remember this is so 251 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: the World Wide Web is really just a couple of 252 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: years old at this point, hardly anyone knows about it, 253 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: and and very few people in the mainstream, very few 254 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: households actually have Internet connectivity. That just wasn't a normal thing. Yet. 255 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: You had people in college who were aware that the 256 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: Internet was a thing, and that the Web was a thing. 257 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: You had people in business and in the military and 258 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: government organizations who were aware of it, but your average 259 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: person just wasn't. So to go this early in and 260 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: add the multimedia component was it was interesting. It also 261 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: does not surprise me that most of that focus wasn't 262 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: on the connectivity side of things, because that just hadn't 263 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: really taken hold in people's imaginations. Yet. It was more 264 00:16:56,320 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: in things like programming and video game stuff that lived 265 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: on a computer but did not connect to an internet. 266 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,439 Speaker 1: The keynote speaker for the interactive side of things was 267 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 1: Richard Garriott. Richard Garriott creates video games. He's probably best 268 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,880 Speaker 1: known for creating the Ultima series of computer games. If 269 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: you're not familiar with Ultima whole, that was a really, 270 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: really influential series of fantasy computer role playing games. It 271 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 1: introduced things like morality into computer role playing games. Earlier, 272 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: it was essentially kind of an amoral hack and slash 273 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: kind of approach to to game design, but starting with 274 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: Ultimate four, Richard Garriott really started to add in, no, 275 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: you have to make the right kinds of choices in 276 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: order to progress in the game. Interesting approach, very innovative 277 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,640 Speaker 1: at the time. Garritt himself is also known as Lord British. 278 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: That's the name of his fictional alter ego within the 279 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: Ultimate series. He's the mostly evolent ruler of Britannia, and 280 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: garyat has got a really fascinating background. He's the son 281 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,440 Speaker 1: of scientists, one of whom was an astronaut who actually 282 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: spent a couple of months aboard the sky Lab space 283 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: station in the seventies and also was in Space Lab 284 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: in the eighties, and yeah he's he himself was extremely 285 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: successful in the nineties as a video game creator and 286 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 1: a business owner. Famously, Richard Garytt himself would go up 287 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: to space and visit the International Space Station as a 288 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: private citizen, one of the few people, like one of 289 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: seven I think whoever, were able to do that in 290 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: the era before private space industry. This was back when 291 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,959 Speaker 1: you had to work with either NASA or Russia in 292 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: order to have a chance of going up there. And yeah, 293 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: he did it anyway, just as a point of reference. 294 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: The music keynote speaker that year was Johnny Cash, So 295 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: talk about an influential our is So you had Richard 296 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: Garriott delivering a keynote for the multi media side and 297 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: Johnny Cash doing the same for the music side. So 298 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: by the time you get up to nine, south By 299 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: Southwest was now a music and media conference for real 300 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: zas and it included film as well, so people would 301 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: come and talk about film, They do panels about film, 302 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: and they would premiere films at south By Southwest or 303 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: sometimes screen do special screenings of films. And it was 304 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: growing up enough so that the festival needed to spread 305 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: out a little bit, so in nine Film and Media 306 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: Conference would split over into a separate event and Richard 307 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: Garriott would again deliver a keynote. In In nine, the 308 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: multi media part of south By Southwest got a rebrand. 309 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: This is when it became known as south By Southwest Interactive, 310 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,439 Speaker 1: which is what it's still called today. And there were 311 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: some really important guests that year. There was Thomas Dolby 312 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:06,960 Speaker 1: and Jared Lanier. So Thomas Dolby I think of Thomas 313 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: Dolby as the musician behind She blinded me with science, 314 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: but has done tons and tons of work in tech. 315 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:18,880 Speaker 1: And then Jared Lanier, He's the guy who coined the 316 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 1: whole virtual reality concept. He didn't invent virtual reality, but 317 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: he coined the idea, he coined the phrase, and is 318 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: a visionary in that field. No pun intended, but Jared 319 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: Lanier did a lot of fundamental foundational work for virtual 320 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 1: reality as well as other technology related stuff. And by 321 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: this time folks were starting to really talk about the 322 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:50,199 Speaker 1: power of the Internet. Like by, people were starting to 323 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: really catch on and it was expanding beyond the little 324 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 1: niche communities that had been aware of the Internet and 325 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: been jazzed about it, but by you started to see excitement, 326 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: right the idea of oh, could be a really big 327 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,879 Speaker 1: year for the Internet, and there were discussions about stuff 328 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: like online communities, which wouldn't have happened a few years earlier, 329 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: but now there was this recognition that an online community 330 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: could be a very powerful thing. Film was really hitting 331 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: hard to by the late nineties. Who had Quentin Tarantino there, 332 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,640 Speaker 1: you had might judge there. Brendan Fraser was there during 333 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: his first run as being a beloved actor, and I'm 334 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: glad to see him getting a lot more attention and 335 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: acknowledgement today. When you get up to Mark Cuban the 336 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: entrepreneur would give a keynote. Philip Glass, the musician, the composer, 337 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: was also one of the interactive guests that year. Oddly enough, 338 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: not just you know sometimes we see this too where 339 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: there's a lot of crossover between the different tracks of 340 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: program So having Philip Glass appeared to talk to the 341 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: interactive crowd was interesting. Also, south By Southwest held a 342 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 1: panel about streaming video technology. Now at the time, no 343 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: one was really sure if streaming video was going to work. Right, 344 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: Like at that point, if you had a video online. 345 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: It was more likely just a file sitting on a 346 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: database and someone would have to go and download that 347 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: video to their computer and then use a video playing 348 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,479 Speaker 1: program of some sort to access the video file and 349 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 1: watch it, because there weren't a lot of options for streaming. 350 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,439 Speaker 1: But in nine they were actually talking about that at 351 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: south By Southwest. The reason I bring this up is 352 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,639 Speaker 1: because one of the important things to remember is that 353 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: while south By can be a hype machine, it can 354 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: be kind of like people all blow and smoke up 355 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: each other's rear ends for seven to nine days, it 356 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 1: can also be a genuine place for real discussion about 357 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: stuff that's important, that is unfolding, that's at it's very 358 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: you know, earliest stages, so we don't really know where 359 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: it's going to go. And in ninety nine, no one 360 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,360 Speaker 1: was predicting that YouTube was going to be a thing. 361 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: YouTube wouldn't launch until two thousand five. That was six 362 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: years later, so really prescient of the panelists to talk 363 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,600 Speaker 1: about streaming video all the way back in n I 364 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: would have been really interested to attend that particular discussion 365 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 1: and see what they had to say, because I mean, 366 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,199 Speaker 1: today you look around, there's so many different streaming services 367 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: like that's where the focus of entertainment is today. I 368 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: don't know that anyone in ninety nine would have envisioned 369 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: what we have at our disposal now, fascinating stuff. By 370 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,200 Speaker 1: two thousand one, the Festival the Music Side had more 371 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 1: than a thousand artists playing at forty eight venues across 372 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: the city. Two thousand one, so more than two decades ago, 373 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,199 Speaker 1: and it had more than a thousand artists. That's just 374 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: so huge. I can't even imagine being in Austin and 375 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: wanting to see, you know, various groups play and having 376 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: to decide between that many. That's like I get a 377 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: choice paralysis all the time. Analysis paralysis, I guess you 378 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: can call it. Well, if you give me too many options, 379 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: I kind of shut down because I just can't. After 380 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: you get past three or four, I start to panic. Uh. 381 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: I complained about this a lot to my partner, who 382 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: well often send me thirty to forty choices at a time, 383 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: and I just tell her, like, this is not good 384 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: for me. I can't handle it. So I can't even 385 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 1: imagine looking at a different thousand different acts and try 386 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: to figure out where I'm going to go see. But 387 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: two thousand one also saw some interesting speakers. The founder 388 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: of Napster had attended and he gave an interview over 389 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: at Interactive. Remember, Napster was truly a an important UH service. 390 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: In the early two thousands, Napster was seen as an 391 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: enormous threat to the established music industry, which is interesting 392 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,400 Speaker 1: that they would then have him appear at south By 393 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 1: Southwest because obviously, like he was like uh most wanted 394 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: for all the different music studios that wanted to sue 395 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: Napster out of existence, which did eventually happen. But it 396 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: really also brought to light the usefulness of peer to 397 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,719 Speaker 1: peer technology and it it really demonstrated that there was 398 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: a real need to address digital music in a way 399 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: that made sense for consumers two thousand one. This is 400 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: before we get to things like the launch of the 401 00:25:55,320 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: iTunes store. It was hard to get digital music. There 402 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: wasn't like an easy way to access it and to 403 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: purchase it and too be able to download it, and 404 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: so people were turning to piracy because that was easy. Uh. 405 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: It wouldn't be until we started seeing things like iTunes 406 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: really established itself where that would change. Plus, obviously the 407 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: music labels and the government of the United States in particular, 408 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: brought the hammer down on all the different sharing services 409 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: that really cut back on piracy that way too, And 410 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: obviously all that would change again once we got into 411 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,679 Speaker 1: audio streaming services, which has been taught a lot about it. 412 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 1: South By Southwest as well. Another person who was at 413 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: two thousand one was one of the co founders of Google, 414 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: Larry Page. So at this stage, you know, again pretty 415 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: early on in the lifetime of south By Southwest, you 416 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: start to see some important people in the various industries 417 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: arrive and and give talks and centations and workshops at 418 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: south By Southwest. This applies across all the different tracks. 419 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 1: I'm focusing mostly on interactive, but you also had, you know, 420 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: incredibly important people in the world of music, whether they 421 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: were musicians or on the business side or the engineering 422 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: side of things. And equally so in the film world, 423 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: really important filmmakers. So two thousand one also had a 424 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: session that was important called is anyone making Money? And 425 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 1: you know, you also have to remember two thousand one 426 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 1: this is like where the bubble bursting is happening in 427 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,919 Speaker 1: Big Swing. It's the spring of two thousand one, so 428 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: it's before nine eleven. Nine eleven would really be where 429 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: the entire world would take a hit financially, but the 430 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: dot com industry in particular would be completely almost completely 431 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,719 Speaker 1: wiped out. Not completely, there'd be some companies that would survive, 432 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: like Amazon survived. But you know two thousand one is 433 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:01,880 Speaker 1: it when making money, it's the questions that you need 434 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,640 Speaker 1: to ask because the answers to that might help you 435 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: avoid disaster down the line. There was also a lot 436 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: of discussion about wearable computers in two thousand one, which 437 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: you know that was still a science fiction kind of 438 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: concept in two thousand one. Now we have all these 439 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: activity trackers and smart watches and stuff. So again very prescient. Uh. 440 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: In two thousand four, Jonathan Abrams of friends Sterre would 441 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:32,720 Speaker 1: present at south By Southwest. Friendster would not be super 442 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: important for much longer, but this was like the dawn 443 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,720 Speaker 1: of the social platform age. Two thousand five saw Malcolm 444 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: Gladwell give a presentation at south By Southwest. Malcolm Gladwell 445 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: of course hosts Smart Talks with IBM, which you've probably 446 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: heard a few of those episodes on this feed. So 447 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: a friend of the show, Malcolm Gladwell, Laura Swisher very 448 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 1: important into actually gave a presentation that year as well, 449 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: and then in two thousand seven we saw the launch 450 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: of panel Picker. So this is in south By Southwest's 451 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: own terminology quote the official User generated Session Proposal platform 452 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: for south By Southwest and south By Southwest e d 453 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: u end quote. So panel Picker is a way for 454 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: attendees and hopeful participants to submit ideas for stuff that 455 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: needs to be talked about. Typically it can be very buzzy, 456 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: hypeish stuff. On occasion, it could be very very important. 457 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's too early to call it important, it ends 458 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: up being a lot of people talking about buzzwords and 459 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: not much else. But the idea here is that let's 460 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: look at the issues that are either really big or 461 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 1: about to be really big in the industry and pitch 462 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 1: a panel based off that so that we can have 463 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: a discussion about where things are going. Two thousand seven 464 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: has also when Twitter would attend for the first time 465 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: and got a lot of attention. So it didn't launch 466 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: at south By Southwest two thousand seven. There are a 467 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: lot of stories where that's kind of thrown around as 468 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: a fact that didn't happen. It actually launched the year before, 469 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: at the end of March in two thousand six, so 470 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: too late to be at south By Southwest in two 471 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: thousand six, but it was very small. It was mostly 472 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 1: the internal team of Twitter and their friends and family, 473 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: and then a small following beyond that. Right, it had 474 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: not really made a big splash. But in two thousand 475 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: seven at south By Southwest they put up a bunch 476 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: of screens that would show people's public tweets as they 477 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: were making them. And this got people really excited and 478 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: a lot of people started to sign up, And really 479 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: two thousand seven south By Southwest is where Twitter would 480 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: establish itself as having an important space in the tech 481 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: field in particular, and it just grew from that point forward. Okay, 482 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, 483 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about one of the worst interviews 484 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: in south By Southwest history, and it involves a very 485 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: prominent tech leader. But first, let's take this break. Okay, 486 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: I promised you all a train reckon two thousand and eight, 487 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: south By Southwest gave us one. It was when a 488 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: journalist named Sarah Lacy conducted an interview with a tech 489 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: leader named Mark Zuckerberg, head of Facebook at the time 490 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: now Meta, and this was a big deal. Mark Zuckerberg 491 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: did not give interviews, especially in public, really, and so 492 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: this was a highly anticipated event at south By Southwest 493 00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: two thousand eight. As such, the crowd filled in the room. 494 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: It was like at full capacity to the point where 495 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: they had to have overflow rooms where they were watching 496 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: a video feed of the interview unfold and they're apparently 497 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,959 Speaker 1: playing like high energy music before the interview, and there 498 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: were like people in the front row or even dancing 499 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: to the music like it was a It was an 500 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,320 Speaker 1: energetic vibe in that room. You had people who are 501 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: really hyped up. Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Lacey come out. 502 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: Zuckerberg was clearly not ready for this. He was nervous 503 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:36,680 Speaker 1: and sweating, and it was not a good look, like 504 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 1: it was like panic in in in in front of 505 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: everyone up on stage and the interview starts, and a 506 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: lot of people were complaining early on that Sarah's questions 507 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: to Zuckerberg, we're kind of softball, and we're focused mainly 508 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: on business e types of stuff and not on nuts 509 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: and bolts and policy things like this, things that people 510 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,000 Speaker 1: were really interested in. There were people who have tough 511 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: questions that they wanted to ask but they felt that 512 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: Sarah was taking a different approach. And to be clear, 513 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: there are more than a few people I have I 514 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: have never actually sat down to watch this interview because 515 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: I can't I empathize too much. I can't handle watching 516 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: people struggle and being super uncomfortable and awkward. I do 517 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: that enough for myself, so I have not watched myself. 518 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: But the all the different reports I was reading, including 519 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: one from barrettun Day Thurston who's been on the show, 520 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 1: made it sound like the questions just weren't going in 521 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: the way the crowd wanted, and the crowd started getting uneasy. 522 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: They felt like the interview was largely a waste of 523 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: time and that Zuckerberg was clearly out of this element. 524 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Twitter had had not launched, but Twitter 525 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: had become popular in two thousand seven. This is two 526 00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: thousand eight, so now everyone at South Byself US is 527 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: on Twitter. So people started going on Twitter and live 528 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: tweeting their responses to watching this interview unfold, to the 529 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: point where Baratunday actually said there were two events happening simultaneously. 530 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: There was the interview that was actually unfolding in the room, 531 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: and then there was everyone heckling the interview online via 532 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:23,319 Speaker 1: Twitter as they were responding in real time to what 533 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: they were seeing. Towards the end of it, apparently the 534 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:32,279 Speaker 1: crowd started to shout out questions and demanding answers. Zuckerberg 535 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: was miserable, Sarah was out of her element, and things 536 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 1: got really super ugly, to the point where people just 537 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: talked about being the most awkward, uncomfortable interview of self 538 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: by selfless history, which honestly I find comfort in and 539 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:51,240 Speaker 1: I'll explain why in a little bit. But the interesting 540 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 1: thing I think about this this interview, apart from the 541 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:56,920 Speaker 1: fact that it was just not a good day for 542 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,200 Speaker 1: Mark Zuckerberg or for Sarah for that matter, is that 543 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: it really illustrated how important Twitter would be at events 544 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: like this, where you could have this secondary conversation unfold 545 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: as an event itself is happening. And that was really 546 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: the first time that that would play a huge part 547 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 1: at South By Southwest, and it was kind of like 548 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 1: the dawning of realization on all the people who are attending. 549 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: This interview, from what I understand, is available to watch online, 550 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 1: so if you are morbidly curious to watch, you can. 551 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 1: Maybe it turns out to not be as bad as 552 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: everyone says it was. But every every UH report I 553 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,879 Speaker 1: read made it sound truly terrible, and I just don't 554 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,680 Speaker 1: think I could sit through it. Anyway. I'll talk about 555 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 1: my own personal version of that in just a little bit. 556 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: So two thousand nine, we get up to the point 557 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: where four square would launch at south By Southwest. This 558 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: was the original four square. So when it originally launched, 559 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: four Square was this app that would let you check 560 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: in two places you were visiting. So you might go 561 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 1: to like a restaurant, and you check in via four 562 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: square to say, yes, here, I am at this restaurant, 563 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: and it helped with discovery, so people who followed you 564 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 1: on four square could say, oh, they went to this restaurant, 565 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: said it was really good, let's go, Let's go there 566 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,000 Speaker 1: tomorrow and let's check it out. And so restaurants began 567 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,880 Speaker 1: to have incentives to invite people to come in and 568 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,279 Speaker 1: UH and check in at four square and you could 569 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,920 Speaker 1: get like an appetizer or something on the house. Actually 570 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:36,440 Speaker 1: had that happened a few times when I used to 571 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: use four square. For this reason, there were also other 572 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,719 Speaker 1: things you had to take into consideration, like you are 573 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,799 Speaker 1: giving up privacy by checking into locations and saying this 574 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: is where I'm at. Depending on your situation, that might 575 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: be a dangerous thing, and eventually four Square would get 576 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:57,520 Speaker 1: away from that. We got away from that location check 577 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: in element to the app. But in two thousand nine 578 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: when they first launched, that is what they were all about. 579 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: That's also wins. South By Southwest introduced the Accelerator Pitch Competition. 580 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,839 Speaker 1: This is an event where various startups all try to 581 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,320 Speaker 1: pitch their idea for the possibility of getting investor support. 582 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 1: We've seen similar events like this in the tech space, 583 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:22,319 Speaker 1: but yeah, this is when it became part of south 584 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:30,960 Speaker 1: By Southwest's own scope of of activities. In there was 585 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,799 Speaker 1: an app that was created by twenty four people who 586 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: used to work at Stanford Research Institute who showed off 587 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:45,160 Speaker 1: this interesting voice activated personal assistant thing. It was apparently 588 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,279 Speaker 1: very bare bones but really fascinating, And it must have 589 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: been truly fascinating because a couple of months later, Apple 590 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 1: bought the whole project and it would become Sirie. By 591 00:37:57,719 --> 00:37:59,279 Speaker 1: the time you get up to two thousand thir team, 592 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: you've got el Un Musk attending south By Southwest. He 593 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,920 Speaker 1: was interviewed on stage. This was specifically with his involvement 594 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: of SpaceX but Musk has been to south By Southwest 595 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,280 Speaker 1: a couple of times, which makes sense. I mean, SpaceX 596 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: is is kind of centered in Texas, and he's talked 597 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: about all sorts of tech stuff at the event. Don't 598 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: know if he's scheduled for this year or not. I 599 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 1: also thought it was interesting that, according to south By 600 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:31,400 Speaker 1: Southwest's own website, in one of the presenters in the 601 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: interactive area was Neil Gaiman. Um. I think of Neil 602 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: Gaiman as an author, and I he writes a lot 603 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:44,360 Speaker 1: of fantasy and kind of horror stuff and things that 604 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 1: are are really fascinating, But I wouldn't necessarily think of 605 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 1: it as interactive, So I'm very curious what he was 606 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,360 Speaker 1: what he was actually talking about. I don't have that information, 607 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 1: but I thought that was really interesting. You also had 608 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,839 Speaker 1: a lot of other things going on around this time. 609 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 1: In the big news was Edwards Snowdon attending south By Southwest. 610 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:10,200 Speaker 1: Virtually he couldn't do it in person because he was 611 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:14,440 Speaker 1: a very wanted man still is. He attended via skyte 612 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 1: and called in and talked about his role in being 613 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:22,600 Speaker 1: a whistleblower and leaking classified information to Wiki leaks. Uh. 614 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,360 Speaker 1: This was a very controversial move on the part of 615 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 1: south By Southwest. You actually had US politicians contacting the 616 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:36,960 Speaker 1: conference and asking them to rescind that invitation. Other guests 617 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: who were at two thousand and fourteen south By Southwest 618 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:44,720 Speaker 1: include Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astronomer, Adam Savage, the former 619 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 1: host of of MythBusters, and Chelsea Clinton was there too. Okay, 620 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,400 Speaker 1: we have made it up to my own personal terrible 621 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:59,920 Speaker 1: interview of south By Southwest. I've only ever been part 622 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:06,320 Speaker 1: of an official seuth By Southwest event once till this year, anyway, 623 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 1: and that was in two thousand sixteen, and the event 624 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 1: was called an Honest Conversation with yek Yak. If you 625 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: don't remember, yek Yak was and actually now it's back again. 626 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:21,480 Speaker 1: But yek Yak was. This this social platform map where 627 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:27,759 Speaker 1: you could post messages anonymously that were GEO located to 628 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,920 Speaker 1: wherever you were, and only people within a certain range 629 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,720 Speaker 1: of your physical position would be able to read that message. 630 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,279 Speaker 1: So let's say I'm in downtown Atlanta and I use 631 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: yek Yak and I write something like traffic today is 632 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: out of control, while the people in that radius would 633 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 1: be able to see that I had posted that and 634 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,400 Speaker 1: they could chime in. Maybe they'd say, like, you're an idiot, 635 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:53,840 Speaker 1: it's always out of control. You're just not in downtown 636 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,839 Speaker 1: Atlanta very much, which should be pretty accurate on all 637 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:02,719 Speaker 1: fronts really. So anyway, yak was mostly known for its 638 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: popularity at college campuses, and there were a lot of 639 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:12,000 Speaker 1: people who were concerned about yik yak because of the 640 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: the ability for people to potentially abuse folks anonymously, and 641 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,240 Speaker 1: there could be terrible bullying and just trolling in general. 642 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,120 Speaker 1: It could lead to some really toxic behaviors, so there 643 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:27,760 Speaker 1: was a lot of concern about this. Now, at the time, 644 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: I had not really conducted any interviews. I hadn't really 645 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,799 Speaker 1: moderated panels. I was asked by my boss of the 646 00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 1: time to do this, and I wasn't confident enough to 647 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:40,960 Speaker 1: say no, I don't want to do this. So I 648 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: agreed to do it. And that's on me. That's my fault. 649 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,840 Speaker 1: In fact, I want to own this, like I hate 650 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,640 Speaker 1: that it happened, but boy, it really was my fault 651 00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:51,800 Speaker 1: for not saying no. So I agreed to do it. 652 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,360 Speaker 1: But I had to submit all my questions in advance 653 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: to the yik yak team, which meant that I felt intimidated. 654 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 1: I didn't feel comfortable writing questions that were more critical 655 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,440 Speaker 1: of the service. And then we get to the day 656 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:09,759 Speaker 1: of this interview, and I'm there with the two co 657 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: founders and I'm asking them questions, but they're giving me 658 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:17,000 Speaker 1: very short answers, which means that I'm burning through my 659 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,680 Speaker 1: questions so so fast. And we finally get to a 660 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:23,719 Speaker 1: point where we're supposed to get to audience Q and A. 661 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: And that was supposed to be like a ten minute session, 662 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,440 Speaker 1: but they had gone through so quickly there was more 663 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:32,439 Speaker 1: like twenty five minutes or maybe even thirty minutes left 664 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,879 Speaker 1: in the panel. So I opened it up, and let 665 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: me tell you, the people who were asking questions from 666 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,280 Speaker 1: the audience, they did not have to submit their questions 667 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: in advance, and they really asked some very tough questions. 668 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,840 Speaker 1: And I just kind of sat there thinking I would 669 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:53,160 Speaker 1: rather be anywhere else in the whole wide world. I 670 00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:56,239 Speaker 1: was completely out of my element. I was not a 671 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,960 Speaker 1: good moderator. This is one of those low points of 672 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,919 Speaker 1: my career, and I feel comfortable talking about it because 673 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:03,920 Speaker 1: I think that there are lessons to be learned, the 674 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,759 Speaker 1: big one being if your boss asks you to do 675 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:10,879 Speaker 1: something that you really don't feel comfortable doing, say so 676 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,880 Speaker 1: because you might. You're gonna save everyone a lot of heartache, 677 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,439 Speaker 1: Like if you if they go with someone else who 678 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,279 Speaker 1: does a great job, then everyone's happy. You didn't have 679 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: to do it. Someone else did what they were good at. 680 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,200 Speaker 1: Everybody looks good and you can move on with your life. 681 00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:29,319 Speaker 1: But if you end up saying yes, like I did, 682 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,000 Speaker 1: then you're gonna end up having this this weight on 683 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 1: your shoulders and it's really hard to shake off, y'all. 684 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,600 Speaker 1: I mean it's like seven years later and I still 685 00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,400 Speaker 1: think about that night. Yuck. Anyway, probably didn't have to 686 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,640 Speaker 1: worry about any way, because, like, there's a lot of 687 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:48,120 Speaker 1: other stuff going on in twenty sixteen, the Obamas were 688 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:52,960 Speaker 1: there in so my little crash and burn with the 689 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: ick Yak was nothing. It certainly wasn't on the level 690 00:43:56,080 --> 00:44:00,200 Speaker 1: of the Zuckerberg interview from a few years earlier. South 691 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:03,160 Speaker 1: By Southwest was starting to become a more unified event. 692 00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 1: They were creating twenty four tracks across music, film, and interactive, 693 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,800 Speaker 1: so they were kind of reversing that decision of splitting 694 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,200 Speaker 1: everything off into sort of separate events at this point 695 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:18,160 Speaker 1: was an early cancelation due to COVID. Keep in mind, 696 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:23,400 Speaker 1: south By Southwest happens in March, so March of like, 697 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,719 Speaker 1: people were still not really sure what was going on 698 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:29,480 Speaker 1: with COVID. They were starting to get worried by you know, February, 699 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,800 Speaker 1: but it was still fairly early, and south By Southwest 700 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: canceling was one of the early indicators that oh, this 701 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:41,040 Speaker 1: is a big deal, this is going to affect a 702 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,200 Speaker 1: lot of things moving forward, and so the show was 703 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:50,680 Speaker 1: completely scuttled. In it was a huge uproar, not uproar, 704 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:55,520 Speaker 1: but a huge upset in the tech industry. One there 705 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 1: was a south By Southwest, but it was online only, 706 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:02,520 Speaker 1: so again no in person conference. They did have musical 707 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,400 Speaker 1: performances and stuff that streamed out, so you could buy 708 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:10,080 Speaker 1: an online pass to south By Southwest that it obviously 709 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 1: was not the same two went back to being both 710 00:45:14,239 --> 00:45:17,799 Speaker 1: in person and online at the same time, so you 711 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,799 Speaker 1: could actually go in person or if you wanted to, 712 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,279 Speaker 1: you could stay and watch on your computer. And these 713 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:27,840 Speaker 1: days you can buy various types of badges to access 714 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 1: the different events and y'all, you've gotta have deep pockets 715 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,279 Speaker 1: to go to south By Southwest as an attendee, Like 716 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:36,880 Speaker 1: if you're not a guest and you don't have a 717 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:40,920 Speaker 1: badge that's already assigned to you. As I recall when 718 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:44,200 Speaker 1: I got my badge back in, it had like the 719 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,360 Speaker 1: dates that it was active, and beyond that I was 720 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,240 Speaker 1: not hill. I didn't have access to south By Southwest, 721 00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:53,440 Speaker 1: which makes sense because you look at the price of 722 00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:57,480 Speaker 1: these things. So if you only wanted a badge to 723 00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:01,120 Speaker 1: the interactive parts of south By Southwest and and that's 724 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:03,760 Speaker 1: all you really cared about, that would set you back 725 00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:10,719 Speaker 1: one thousand, five hundred dollars right now, if you were 726 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:11,840 Speaker 1: to buy it at the door, it would be a 727 00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:16,200 Speaker 1: hundred bucks more than that, very very expensive. Uh. Now, 728 00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 1: let's say that you just want to do music. If 729 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,360 Speaker 1: you just wanted to do music, that's actually the cheapest. 730 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,719 Speaker 1: That's just an eight dollars. And south By has had 731 00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:27,880 Speaker 1: a sort of a decline in attendance on the music 732 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:32,920 Speaker 1: side of recent years, so that might be why it's 733 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:38,240 Speaker 1: it's the cheap price of eight film is a thousand, 734 00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:42,319 Speaker 1: four hundred, so just a little less expensive than interactive. 735 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,359 Speaker 1: If you wanted to be able to see everything at 736 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:50,919 Speaker 1: priority category, well you'd have to spend one thousand, eight 737 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:55,600 Speaker 1: hundred nine five dollars almost two grand. Now, according to 738 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,800 Speaker 1: south By Southwest, any badge gets to you primary entrance 739 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:05,840 Speaker 1: into the related category and secondary entry into most other events. 740 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,800 Speaker 1: I don't know what secondary intrigue means. I just assume 741 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:12,319 Speaker 1: that means you get, like you know, not the not 742 00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:15,480 Speaker 1: the prioritized seating, and there might be much more limited 743 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:19,840 Speaker 1: space for that, but at least then you could, in theory, 744 00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:23,759 Speaker 1: by a badge for for music and use it to 745 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,400 Speaker 1: see most other events during the whole festival, which stretches, 746 00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:29,160 Speaker 1: like I said, more than a week at this point, 747 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:32,160 Speaker 1: or if you prefer, you could get an online pass 748 00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:35,920 Speaker 1: for the low low price of a So there is 749 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:42,200 Speaker 1: that anyway. South By. I think it's a cool event. Uh. 750 00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:43,840 Speaker 1: There are a lot of other things that are happening 751 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:48,360 Speaker 1: at around the same time, like parties and promotional stuff 752 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,640 Speaker 1: that really end up being a lot of fun that 753 00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:55,840 Speaker 1: are in addition to the official south By Southwest events. 754 00:47:56,560 --> 00:48:00,160 Speaker 1: So it really becomes a big party atmosphere. But it's 755 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,560 Speaker 1: also incredibly expensive, and I think it becomes sort of 756 00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:06,800 Speaker 1: almost an elitist kind of thing because only the people 757 00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:09,960 Speaker 1: who can really afford it are gonna be going, and 758 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: it really creates a have have not situation there, and 759 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:15,480 Speaker 1: I don't know how I feel about that. I think 760 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:19,400 Speaker 1: that's kind of a bummer. I love live music, I 761 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,520 Speaker 1: don't think I love it enough to spend nine on 762 00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:24,759 Speaker 1: a badge to be able to see at all. It's 763 00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:29,560 Speaker 1: just it's kind of sad. Uh. But at the same time, 764 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:31,080 Speaker 1: a lot of cool stuff happens, and a lot of 765 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,479 Speaker 1: really interesting technologies have launched there or become popular there. 766 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:38,439 Speaker 1: So I hope that I'm going to be going this year, 767 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:40,319 Speaker 1: And if I do that, maybe I see some of 768 00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,640 Speaker 1: you out there. I'll keep an eye out, and uh yeah, 769 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,560 Speaker 1: before I run too long, I'll just say I'll talk 770 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I 771 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:59,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio 772 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:02,800 Speaker 1: is at the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 773 00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:09,320 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H