Pandemic stricken SXSW has sold half its stake to Penske Media – The publisher of Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vibe, and Variety.

“It’s been an incredibly tough period for small businesses, SXSW included,” Roland Swenson, SXSW CEO & co-founder said in a statement. “When [Penske founder] Jay Penske came to us with interest in becoming a partner, it was a true lifeline for us. While SXSW’s core business will retain its focus on the March event in Austin, this strategic investment also brings the exploration of new capabilities in providing quality programming to our diverse community of highly engaged creative professionals.”

The popular conference that drew artists and media creatives around the world has been forced online. It’s been 2 years since the last in person gathering.

Indie act KYTES releases a uptempo 80ish inspired track Runaway. It has a memorable anthem and it sounds like a sleeper hit, reminiscent of lovelytheband’s broken or Neon Trees ‘Animal’. The band has performed more than 250 shows to date including SXSW and music festivals – The Great Escape, Frequency, and Melt! The indie 4 piece has had an illustrious past – landing on top of the Hype Machine charts, a sold out European tour, and racking up millions of streams. Give the track a stream.

The organizers of SXSW had no choice but to cancel one of the world’s biggest music event after public pressure. The CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey was first to cancel his speech. But according to our sources, Dorsey is moments away of being ousted from Twitter. Of course there was a domino effect where everybody started jumping off the ship in fear over the virus from Beastie Boys to Ozzy Osbourne to Trent Reznor. Finally, there was the Change.org petition signed by tens of thousands of people calling for the festival to be canceled. Hence, the organizers folded. As of now, the risk of contracting the COVID-19 is low in the U.S. and there have been less than 200 cases – out of those cases 99% made a full recovery without any complications.

This is the first time in 34 years that SXSW will not take place. I cannot even comprehend the level of disruption and and the impact it will have on the media event.

KOAR favorite Work Drugs pumps out the first single of 2018. The feel-good warm vibes Miami Nights is a perfect release for the coldest month of the year. In the typical Work Drugs fashion, the track is inspired by the best sounds of 80’s, plus a sax breaks out towards the end. The Philadelphia dream pop act releases their music via Bobby Cahn Records and have been steadily building a fanbase. Additionally, they’ve performed SXSW and CMJ, and shared the stage with Two Door Cinema Club, Umphrey’s McGee, and Maps and Atlases.
workdrugs@gmail.com

The rock genre has fell on darks days. The Grammys didn’t telecast rock. Avenged Sevenfold skipped the Grammys because rock didn’t get respect. What happened to rock? Did the genre bring the demise on themselves failing to change its sound over the course of a decade? Or is this a coordinate effort by marketers to make rap the dominating genre? Regardless, there are a slew or rock bands that do extremely well. Consider Metallica who doubled their ticket prices and continued to sell out stadium after stadium making them one of the highest grossing tour in 2017. If you’re going to breakout as a new rock act today you must offer something undeniable catchy like LA based pop rockers Romance & Rebellion. The band has created a buzz around themselves solely through social media and performing live. After the release of their debut EP in 2017, they took the stage at Warped Tour, SXSW, and headlined Emo Nite LA. Check out the track For The Moment.
kirsten@bigpicturemediaonline.com