My Morning Headache

Wristbands, my thoughts

So, the new wristband policy was released the other day. Go ahead and read through it, I'll wait.

Done yet? No, seriously. Read it. It's interesting.

In the past, there was always a release of wristbands seemingly out of nowhere. As soon as you heard news that they were released, you'd have to run down to Waterloo Records and stand in a line that was anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. Recently, you could sign up for text messages on the SXSW website and you would be informed exactly when wristbands went on sale.

Now you go online and get entered in a lottery. Many people think this sounds like ACL early bird tickets. It's not though. Because the policy here is that you have to put the wristband on when you pick it up and you can only enter once. I think this will significantly cut down on scalpers and most people that really want to go won't have a problem. In fact, I would always buy a second just in case I had a friend that missed out. I think a lot of people used to do this. You can't really do that anymore since you have to give the name of the person you are buying it for when purchasing the wristband.

However, after thinking about it for the last 36 hours, I hate the new policy. Louis Black claimed that he wanted to change the policy because people were complaining about having to leave work on a moment's notice and drive across town just to stand in a long line. He wanted to give those people a better opportunity to get wristbands. I don't think those are the people that wristbands were designed for. Wristbands are for hardcore music fans that are willing to put some effort into obtaining access to all the new indie bands that are at SXSW. Now, more casual fans that really want to see REM can lay down a little money and have just as much of a chance at a wristband as the hardcore fan that would be willing to camp out over night just to see a bunch of bands that no one has heard of yet. SXSW is catering to the wrong crowd here. Oh well. I hope Gus, Sarah, Josh, Carter, and Tary can all get wristbands. If not, this new policy is a complete failure.

posted by Ruhmann @ 2/15/2008 04:35:00 PM