I am happy to announce that even in this economy, we have our priorities straight here at Sonicbids.

Just this week we extended by another three years, our commitment to be a major sponsor (and submission platform) of South By Southwest Music, a relationship that we started back in 2004 and plan to extend all the way to 2012 at least. (Be on the lookout for submissions opening for the music festival around the end of the month.)

SXSW, along with CMJ (another event that we have been supporting since 2004) is one of a handful of events that manage to elevate the indie music scene on the world stage.  With well over 1,800 bands paying the festival each year, I can hardly name another event that has done more for bringing new music to the fore than SXSW.

Panos

The decline of what we now call “terrestrial” radio in the US started well over a decade ago. The reasons have been fairly well documented: obsession with strict “formats”, risk-averse corporations that killed all the personality DJs, gradual cultural irrelevance due to evolution of other media, etc.

The shocking news from Boston yesterday was the shutting of one of the city’s venerable rock stations, the 40-year old WBCN (in the US all radio stations are named using “callsigns”).

For those not from Boston, WBCN was the so-called “Rock of Boston”. The station was instrumental in introducing US audiences to bands from “across-the-pond” like The Police and U2; and Boston bands like Aerosmith and The Cars got their first national breaks through the station. (WBCN’s annual Rock & Roll Rumble, a 30-year old Battle of the Bands, was also a great vehicle for many young bands to get national exposure).

The truth is, radio lost its relevance to the current generation of listeners a while ago. The constraints of its business model (expensive to operate, more and more difficult to attract advertisers due to lack of audience targeting) make it seem like a business anachronism compared to say, the Internet, with its cost efficiencies, vast audiences, and ability to target to your heart’s content.

More critically, like old-school record shops, radio stopped being a place where you go to discover great new music since at least the turn of the decade. The broadcast model in order to be successful requires a very large but very targeted audience (hence, the format model). And to reach a large audience you need music that appeals to the lowest common denominator (Kelly Clarkson? Nickleback?). With a plethora of music discovery options out there (Internet stations; Pandora; iTunes; LastFM; podcasts; satellite radio; video games; MySpace; Twitter; Facebook; etc.) why resort to that?

I have personally not consciously turned on a radio station since 2007 (no joking, that’s the year that I got satellite radio in my car). I use my iPhone to listen to music (check out all the cool apps that exist) and I discover new artists all kinds of ways that have nothing to do with listening to a morning DJ on the way to work.

So does radio have a future as a cultural medium? Perhaps — if it fights back. Time to put new music discovery on the top of the corporate agenda.

Panos