I will have no part in such obvious socialist propaganda.

Are they really asking $500 for tickets?

I'm a Farker, so I'm just going to assume that none of it sounds anything like Led Zeppelin, declare it all hipster crap, and go listen to Houses of the Holy for the 15 brazilianth time.

Free? Worth every penny.

Get EVERY tune from SXSW going back to 2005 through torrents - LEGALLY. About 12 solid days of music. http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/

SXSW seems like it would be fun but do people really pay $500 for it? I mean how many indie kids have that kind of time and money on their hands.

Chunks McGunks: SXSW seems like it would be fun but do people really pay $500 for it? I mean how many indie kids have that kind of time and money on their hands.

You only have to pay that much for the badges. While the badges are nice in that you get priority entrance to any show and get access to the tradeshow stuff, you only really need the much cheaper wristband if you just want to see shows.

The first year I went, I didn't have a wristband either. Had to do some standing around in line, but still saw plenty of shows.

I'm sure the other 800 bands playing here this week are highly disappointed they missed the massive NPR audience boost...

/Goddamn hipster douchebag tourists...

Or you could download all 5 Gig from here, in addition to the all the bands that have played the past 5 years.

Link (new window)

Legal and free.

Webulator: Get EVERY tune from SXSW going back to 2005 through torrents - LEGALLY. About 12 solid days of music. http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/

*shakes tiny fist at Webulator.*

Downloading now...hopefully there is some cool tunes...but hey, if not, it was free and my delete key works.

I work in downtown Austin and knew SXSW was starting when I saw a hipster carrying a sword.

Coelacanth Filet: I work in downtown Austin and knew SXSW was starting when I saw a hipster carrying a sword.

I thought that was just called "Tuesday".

Wait, was it a guy in a pirate costume with one of those $200 Lightsaber replicas? Because I heard he died a couple of years ago...

Came here to add what others already have (but I still will)

~20GB of apparently free/legit music out here:
http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/2010

I've been listening to the stuff from '06 for the past few days, and there's a lotta good stuff! All told, from 06-10 there's like ~4000 songs, and most artists only have 1-2 tracks, so it's a big variety.

also, nice to see the lifehacker/fark crossover contingent

Thanks for the torrents...

NPR link is useless without The Protomen (new window), who are playing at SXSW

Thankfully, I don't work service industry. So I have the luxury of hiding in my apartment this week and not having to deal with the farking tourists.

/"Thanks for visiting Austin, thanks for the money...NOW GO THE FARK HOME!"

Really like that Broken Bells song, glad to see it included.

Thanks to those who posted the link to gigs of freebies as well!

Has anyone mentioned there are free, legal torrents out there with gigabytes of SXSW music?

TFA: 1. Download iTunes...

No.

RockIsDead: Looks like all pop crap.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is some straight up SOUL MUSIC.