SXSW and iTunes
Today Wired is running a story about the upcoming SXSW (South by Southwest) music festival, and their creative use of what I consider to be one of the best, yet most-often overlooked features of iTunes -- the ability to share playlists across a network.
SXSW will be offering full songs from about half of the participants in this year's SXSW as an iTunes playlist. Via Rendezvous, the playlist will be publicly available on a local area network which encompasses more than thirty wifi-enabled restaurants and cafes.
So say you're visiting Austin and thinking of checking out Band X later that night. To go beyond the band's description in the brochure and actually hear them in advance, all you'd have to do is visit a wifi spot, launch iTunes on your laptop, and the SXSW playlist featuring songs by Band X, and everyone else performing in the festival, would be automatically available to you.
You could of course Google the band, and search out online samples of their work (if they even have a web site), but the iTunes solution is immediate, with the added benefit of comfortably perusing all the other artists in the festival.
What makes the use of iTunes shared playlists so creative (and groundbreaking in my mind) is that instead of relying on the spoke-hub model of rich media distribution (launch web browser, visit web site, launch media player), the content is distributed in a local, parallel fashion that avoids the web altogether, and doesn't require browser plug-ins, cumbersome urls, or media streaming servers. All an attendee has to do is launch iTunes, and the content is automatically made available to them (in a discreet, polite fashion).
SXSW is theoretically creating their own localized, wireless, free media platform accessible by anyone with the applicable technology. When you think of it in broader terms, there is plenty of opportunity to expand the practice beyond music with deeper content, whether it be chat, video, instant messaging, or raw textual content.
All of this could obviously be done on the web, but SXSW isn't interested in people sitting at home -- they want people in Austin. A compelling roster of talent is obviously a plus, but mix in any readily-accessible, open-source, free technology attendees can use to enjoy the event even more, and you add another level of specialized content to help lure attendees.
To me it's a brilliant idea, and one that could be easily replicable to other public events.
Comments
Amen! I love this feature in iTunes, and the fact that SXSW is utilizing it might be enough to get me off of my butt here in Dallas and trek down I-35 to good 'ol Austin. Well, that and the stuffed avocados at Trudy's - mmmmm...
Posted by: Robert Strickland at March 3, 2004 12:18 PM
Now, we just need a future version of the ipod with built in wireless that shows shared playlists alongside your own....
Posted by: karaya at March 3, 2004 12:53 PM
And why limit it to songs? Why not also offer spoken reviews of bands or interviews with band members? Or even interviews with critics or others around the music? So much more could be there
Posted by: andrew at March 3, 2004 1:38 PM
I agree, the shared playlists are a great feature.
The way you describe using them for SXSW is something I've been planning to do. There are so many bands that I'd like to see, but really part of what I want to do is check out new bands and this service will be a great help for that I'm quite sure.
Posted by: Keith at March 3, 2004 2:10 PM
"all you?d have to do is visit a wifi spot, launch iTunes on your laptop"
Yeah, anyone who's anyone these days "of course" has I tunes" and prefers it as their music player of choice.... Why not just have a webpage with links to the mp3's all on SXSW site. all in one place, that would have all the benefits of this function, but not lock the user down to using ITunes... or the clips could be streamed in mp3 format...
The apple / itunes / ipod "community and love" can sometimes go overboard.
Posted by: brian halton at March 3, 2004 5:17 PM
"Why not just have a webpage with links to the mp3’s all on SXSW site. all in one place, that would have all the benefits of this function, but not lock the user down to using ITunes… or the clips could be streamed in mp3 format…"
I would guess because they want to offer it to those at the festival only. Of course, I suppose they could do the same thing with a private website of some sort?
Posted by: Robert at March 3, 2004 5:43 PM
sadly, so many of the internet geeks i know that are coming all the way down to austin for sxsw will be attending the interactive conference only and leaving right when the music showcases start and aren't going to be seeing any of these awesome bands! every year you guys do this! why is that? don't you guys need blogger fodder? stay and see some films, hear some music!
brian, sxsw's site does have mp3s of (almost) all of the bands that are showcasing. but i think this shared playlist is to get the word out to wifi users that aren't participating in sxsw, that happen to launch itunes at one of these hotspots, to let them know of all the great artists showcasing this year and possibly help sell more wristbands or tickets.
Posted by: yi at March 3, 2004 8:45 PM
There is the minor problem that iTunes only accepts 5 connections on Rendezvous (unless I'm mistaken). I don't know, but that might turn out to be a problem...
Posted by: Michael Heilemann at March 4, 2004 10:09 AM
Thanks, yi, for pointing out that SXSW -does- have a website with mp3 files available. I'd like to add that the songs are also available in the patent-free Ogg Vorbis standard format.
And Michael... technically, SXSW is not relying on iTunes' alone. They're using third-party, open-source tools including source code available from Apple's Developer Network, to provide this service. So the 5-connection limit that iTunes may (or may not) impose is not a factor here.
Posted by: doppler at March 5, 2004 1:26 AM
