But I also hear good things about South by Southwest.

Last Wednesday I went to the NXNE opening party. The invite makes the party sound so exclusive — RSVP by so and so date, guest list in effect, trespassers will be torn apart by rabid dogs — but my hunch is that the only criteria for getting on the guest list is the ability to send an email in time. Which is fine by me because I'm not sure I'd want to party with the type of musicphiles who'd manage to get into an exclusive indie music party. Frankly, my main motivation for going to the opening party was the expectation of free booze.

The night was sorely disappointing in that respect. Not only did we not get any free drinks, but the bartenders wouldn't accept cash. Guests had to buy drink tickets that could then be exchanged for alcohol. I don't need this extra barrier between me and my alcohol. The time spent waiting in those two lines is time I could've spent damaging vital parts of my brain.

So what does my debauchery at the opening of an indie music festival have to do with graphic art? More than you might think.

The advent of the internet and new digital compression media has led to a crisis in the music industry. Once again, the music industry feels threatened by a new technology, and the RIAA has responded by suing music fans. The Canadian House of Commons is debating amendments to the Copyright Act to strengthen protections for copyright owners; and the U.S. Congress is debating amendments to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to increase prison sentences for copyright infringements, and create new copyright crimes, including attempted copyright infringement.

At the same time, independent artists have used the internet to connect with their fans, promote themselves around the world, and distribute their albums. But most independent artists have used the internet to facilitate a more traditional business model — selling CDs — which still leaves an opportunity for a clever entrepreneur to develop a business model that properly exploits new media technologies. Apple iTunes music store is one promising attempt to take advantage of mp3s and the internet by allowing users to buy individual songs, instead of a whole album, for a reasonable price.

Similarly, the comic industry is in somewhat of a slump. Newspapers reserve little space for comics these days — compared to several pages a day 10, 20, 80 years ago — and many currently syndicated comics went stale before I was even born. One could try to be hired by one of the big comic book publishers, which is about as likely as becoming the Pope of your own Church of the Underpants — and you can't, because I already have that position. There are many talented cartoonists developing fantastic comics, but many work in obscurity and often have to work real jobs to support their art. Some publish on the internet, and a few artists are able to make money — through merchandise sales, or the much maligned micro-payments idea — but no one has yet developed a reliably successful business model for publishing web comics.

The next day I attended the first NXNE town hall meeting. The 30 panelists, including artists, media, and music industry types, reflected on the opportunities available in the indie music industry. The theme of the meeting was to discuss the state of the music industry as if it was 2010. Terry McBride, the moderator, went around to room to ask how the music industry had changed from everyone's individual perspective. One panelist spoke of the early 21st century as the time when citizens revolted against major corporations, which began a new golden age when customers could force companies to act responsibly towards the environment, employees, and customers, or risk being driven out of business when customers shifted their support to independent competitors.

Another panelist described how informed artists were able to take back the rights to their creations. This allowed them to change their role from manufacturers of a product with little influence over the marketing and distribution of their creations, to clients of record companies who dictated how their creative work would be utilized.

A third panelist noted that many artists were able to exploit the internet to promote and distribute their music. Band members not only played music, they operated webpages, created movies featuring their music, distributed music through online stores, and likely wasted enormous amounts of time downloading porn.

Their responses were optimistic, to say the least. From my perspective, their optimism grew from a focus on the use of technologies, such as peer-to-peer networks, wireless broadband, and sites like Myspace, to create a democratization of music, putting the control in the hands of consumers instead of corporations. No one mentioned that with the democratization of music comes the risk of a tyranny of the majority's musical taste. I doubt I want the millions of Avril Lavigne fans — or whoever the newest teeny bopper idol is these days; I haven't seen MTV or Much Music in years — having any more power to decide who I get to listen to than they already do using their parents' wallets.

After everyone gave their responses, McBride opened up discussion to questions from the audience. I got his attention and, using all the public speaking skills at my disposal, managed to babble out something to the effect of: It's 2010 and getting your music on the internet has become old hat. But a guy in a basement somewhere is developing new technology that allows you to plug music directly into your brain. What can we do to prepare and accommodate new technology so that record companies aren't suing music fans for using new technology, as they did back in early 2000s, but artists and record labels still profit?

The response I got was somewhat disappointing. If I understood it correctly it was that if a record company owns the music, and a fan gets a hold of the music on new technology without permission, then it's within the company's rights to protect their property. Admittedly, I could've phrased my question better, so even though McBride took my mic away after I asked the question I tried to shout back a clarification, but I didn't press the issue because it was even harder to get my point across by shouting it. My point is that yes, suing people who acquire music illegally is a legitimate response for a company to take. But it isn't the ideal response. And if this new nirvana of the music industry is so dependent on new technology, and technology advances so quickly, then we should predict and try to prepare for these advances. But large media companies have historically responded hostilely to new technologies (cassette, VHS, cd, dvd, mp3), and that's a trend that needs to be fixed if the music industry is supposed to become as consumer-friendly as they suggest.

More generally, the panelists described this ideal situation that would ostensibly develop by 2010, and I wanted them to address some of the challenges they would have to face by then, such as, for example, technology that they hadn't foreseen. Maybe I should've just asked that.

A few of the guests had video cameras, so if I find a copy of the video, I'll link it.