Too Bad: SXSW Shuts Down Useful App For Finding New Bands You'd Like

from the why? dept

To that end, each spring sees a new crop of tools that let you apply your personal taste to the SXSW artist list to find bands to see, or at the very least, hear from afar. Lastsx.sw is the best we’ve seen this year so far.



EarthPeople cobbled together the nicely-designed Lastsx.sw by grabbing your favorite artists from Last.fm (you are scrobbling, aren’t you?), finding similar artists in the SXSW 2012 artist list, and presenting you with handy links so you can hear those artists on Spotify and check out their official websites.



Lastsx.sw worked great for me — in fact, I’m enjoying some new (to me) stuff courtesy of the site right now in Spotify and scrobbling it to both Facebook and Last.fm, but that’s a different story. Also, I may never have realized that old fave The Wedding Present are playing SXSW this year, so now I have that to look forward to.

we had to shut down this site.



sxsw lawyers:

"We strongly believe that anyone who sees your solicitations or promotions will assume that we are endorsing your company".



as if this was a company endevour, or had any promotions or solicitations. total lameness. here's a thought for you: launch a public api. have a look at roskildelabs.com. their idea/attitude: perfect.

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I went to SXSW last year and had an amazing time. Having never gone before, and hearing people talk about it every year, I was pretty cynical heading there for the first time, but I have to admit that the event was really, really fantastic, and was tremendously productive while also being a lot of fun. Due to other commitments, I can't make it back this year, but I fully intend to go again in the future. However, I'm surprised, and a bit disappointed, to hear that the folks at SXSW have taken to IP bullying, of sorts, in forcing what sounds like a useful app to shut down. Evolver.fm had a profile of a nice little app to help you find bands that you'd probably like at SXSW Neat, right? Except at the top of the story, Evolver now notes that SXSW forced the app to shut down. Digging deeper, and on the lastsx.sw page they explain:They do, however, have their source code up for anyone who wants to do anything about it. Either way, this seems like a silly move by SXSW. Every year tons of new apps show up, and use SXSW as a useful proving ground. SXSW encourages this. And this seems like a particularly useful app for the music side of the event. Clearly, the concern from SXSW is over the trademark issue, and the fact that the app has "SXSW" sort of included in the name. But the likelihood of confusion here was slim to none. Just because someone uses your name in an accurate and descriptive manner doesn't mean that there's infringement.More importantly, as the folks who made the app note,. For trademark infringement to occur, it has to be. In other words, no trademark infringement, and it's too bad that SXSW jumped the gun in threatening these app makers. I realize they want to protect the SXSW trademark, but part of that is notand going beyond what the law allows -- especially if doing so shuts down useful and innovative tools. Hopefully, SXSW recognizes the error of its ways and changes its mind on this one.

Filed Under: bands, lastsxsw, music finder, recommendations, sxsw, trademark

Companies: sxsw