Matt Sonzala seems to be going through some post-SXSW angst partly in relationship to media coverage of the festival focused on celebrities:
"Every f*cking writer that hit me up about this sh*t had the same questions. They weren't asking things like "What's the deal with these Norwegian rappers you are bringing?" "Who's SouthBound and Ryno & Slim Gutta? Are they cool?" No they asked me how to get in touch with Ice Cube, Clipse and Bun B. They barely even gave a sh*t about Dizzee Rascal or Devin."
"Then I sit and read the blogs and the papers and the magazines and it's all about all the bands you would expect them to be about. It's sad, cuz when I was growing up we had about 1/10th of the magazines, 1/16th of the radio stations, no internet, no satellite radio, and I think back then more music got thru to the masses than is getting through today. You can challenge me on that if you want to, but I pay attention and all I am seeing is a bunch of copy cat lazy ass motherf*ckers all clamoring for the same thing..."
"That my friends, is my biggest beef. The lazy ass media."
Well, that should help improve future coverage!
On the one hand, I'm sympathetic. On the other, the media's focus on the obvious isn't all that new and given the financial realities that now challenge professional media, it's only going to get worse.
And, given the fact that all the upstart bloggers who are making money have figured out that it's all about celebrity gossip, short bits about breaking news and audio/video drops, it's only going to get worse.
And, given the fact that you can't go to SXSW if you're not getting paid, unless you're paying out of pocket, the focus on things that get people paid, i.e. celebrities, will only get worse.
And, given the fact that the people Matt list don't seem to be reaching out to mid-level bloggers like myself, it's only going to get worse for them.
Honestly, anybody that thinks you can book celebrities and not-so-famous people at the same festival without the celebrities sucking all the air out of the room is setting themselves up for disappointment. And I don't care how many bands you book, once the celebs start showing, it changes the game and SXSW has changed in that regard and Matt is part of that process.
The lesser known artists that build both online community and buzz are going to get the attention online and, to be honest, I don't see or hear anything from the artists or their people that Matt name checks in his post as deserving more attention.
He mentions Dizzee Rascal as someone that didn't get much coverage though, as you may recall, he got quite a bit when he first came through SXSW.
I've been following Dizzee Rascal, writing about him occasionally and almost always positively, posting his videos and so forth since he did his first show at SXSW, which I attended and wrote about, and I have to say that I never get any pr on him that hasn't been a generic outreach and I've seen less pr work for this visit than ever before. The buzz has died for Dizzee, though I hope the Def Jux involvement helps, but without buzz you don't get coverage at SXSW.
I should note that being on Def Jux makes it even less likely that I'll get any kind of direct outreach regarding Dizzee. I've given that label and that label's artists more attention than any other indie label since I started blogging over 5 years ago and they've never reached out directly though I do get on certain publicists' mailing lists. But those lists are all managed by people to which Def Jux outsources their pr.
I should also note that as soon as news got out regarding the Dizzee Rascal/Bun B video for Where Da G's, lots of bloggers picked it up.
Hmmm, maybe dropping an embeddable video a bit earlier would have changed a few things for Dizzee's SXSW appearance?
Nobody can count on getting online attention just for putting in work, especially offline work. You've got to put in the right work. Today that means doing things like dropping cool videos and being in touch with folks. But to expect bloggers to play Alan Lomax and search out folks they're not hearing about is wishful thinking.
I posted the K-Rino video Matt dropped at Houston So Real over at Hip Hop Logic and at VidRap but do you think anybody's going to even say anything if I didn't point that out?
Will they say anything now?
Will K-Rino's people start sending me pr material?
Will doing that help me fund a future visit to SXSW?
No, probably not, no, no.
But I'm glad I posted that video cause it's meaningful.
I'll be honest, I've had some limited contact with Matt from a distance and it's all been positive.
But I've posted links to his blog lots of times and do I get any mentions on his blog? Do I get any email about what he's up to? Does he send me any videos, even via a generic email list, of artists that he's repping?
No on all accounts.
Love is at least a two way street but I don't need love from artists and their people.
I need acknowledgement. I need information. I need videos.
Plus I need a reason to give a damn.
And just because you do something cool in public doesn't mean that folks are going to pick up on it or care.
I've experienced that plenty of times at ProHipHop when I've done something I consider special and had no one seem to even notice. I even had a former writer scoff when I referred to "my work at ProHipHop" which includes things like exposing lies from people's heroes, sharing useful information for up and comers and making strong political statements that work against my bottom line.
So I have to accept that the things I do to make money, all involving celebrity coverage, have obscured the more meaningful things I do at ProHipHop.
I've also boosted countless blogs and blogger project for years. But when I did an Ebay auction to try to make some much-needed cash off some hip hop domains did any of those people link to me even after I made a separate post asking for support?
No. And after healing my wounds, I had to accept that my needs did not catch their attention in a meaningful manner. I guess I should have reached out individually but I was as hurt and surprised by the lack of blogger support as Matt seems to be by his recent SXSW media experience.
So if you want to get that attention for yourself or others, pay attention to other people's needs, not your own, and reach out in a manner to which they're receptive.
And if you invite a celebrity to your party and everybody keeps paying more attention to them than to you and your buddies and that hurts your feelings, maybe you shouldn't invite the celebrity next time.
But we all know that next year will bring more celebrities to SXSW and less coverage of folks who don't have considerable buzz going in.
And anybody that doesn't see that coming is playing themselves, no matter how right on and heart felt their feelings about the situation might be.
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