Of the reactions and comments to my State Of SXSW Music 2015 piece, the one that resonated the strongest — and then colored my vision the most — came from Austin’s Ron Deutsch. “SXSW is going through a generational change,” he wrote on Facebook. “SXSW was a Gen X festival, but it is now becoming a Millennial festival.”

When you look at is this way, a lot of the SXSW-jumped-the-shark handwringing starts to make sense: the festival simply isn’t built for the audience that fondly remembers the relative peace, quiet and musical discovery of SXSW 1997. Or SXSW 2003. The festival is now old enough that there’s two distinct SXSW camps — those that were here when it was smaller and more manageable and those that don’t know any different. Millennials, Deutsch argued, are used to relentless marketing from big brands. Not even McDonald’s offends them. They not only don’t care whether Madonna or Bono didn’t keynote, they’re not interested in a keynote at all — they weren’t here when the “conference” part of SXSW ruled the daytime schedule instead of day parties. Gen X is offended by big names taking showcase slots from young unsigned talent. Millennials are used to stacked Coachella and Lollapalooza lineups — they want to see those names here. And oddly, considering its Gen X that says they yearn for the days of SXSW discovery, millennials are used to seeking out the upstarts and the underdogs on streaming services and social media. They want to see both big pop acts and the underground-leaning acts that might never develop into a big pop act. You can pretty easily argue they have more eclectic tastes than the SXSW traditionalists.

When you get down to it, the people most offended by SXSW 2014 — the ones who sat out 2015 — likely weren’t 20-somethings but folks in their late-30s, 40s and 50s who could compare and contrast with the SXSWs of old.

Deutsch’s conclusion- — “If SXSW is to continue, it will no longer be defined by Gen X interests and values, but the ‘new’ young people, for better or worse” — is the story of SXSW 2015. SXSW is a house divided. There’s not a lot of crossover between Fetty Wap and Alejandro Escovdeo or Dej Loaf and Drivin N’ Cryin. A handful of events, like Willie Nelson’s Heartbreaker Banquet, seemed to appeal to both camps, but I’m guessing there’s not a lot of folks that can say they went to both the Austin Music Awards and the mtvU Woodies. And the Music Awards packed out a giant Convention Center hall all night — not because the lineup was stellar, but because at this point it’s counterprogramming SXSW. It’s where Austinites who remember the Armadillo seek refuge from showcases featuring very little they’ve heard of. SXSW needs the awards — or an event like this year’s Doug Sahm tribute — because great festivals nod to their roots as much as they do the future, but it’s obvious these events aren’t in line with the prevailing SXSW Zeitgeist. Almost nobody seemed to notice Neil Young was here with a film or that Little Steven stepped in as unannounced guest at the Awards. Even the highly-anticipated Kurt Cobain documentary that SXSW Film showed during SXSW Music seemed to get lost in the shuffle. That might be because the media covering the festival has changed too — they’re Millennials looking for stories that yield page views, not for acts that appeal to music fans that still have Trouser Press Guides on their bookshelves. Not long from now, these Millennials will be the only ones telling SXSW’s story. And the story will be about them.