I could spend a lot of time here going over the complete and utter insanity that was South by Southwest Interactive. I could pore over the incredible presentations I saw. I could share all the photos I took. I could spend three paragraphs just talking about what I learned this year, and how I’ll do it all differently next year.

But I’m going to talk about what I didn’t see: music. I realized about halfway through my stay in Austin that I hadn’t seen a single presentation about music, not even about music technology. Of course, the explanation for this is simple – there’s a whole week of that talk directly following SXSWi. But why? Why does music tech warrant an entirely separate conference that also includes a lot of the old dinosaurs ranting about the changing landscape of the music business?

I suppose you can’t have the best of both worlds, but I think there’s an awful lot to be learned by both camps by cross-pollinating these two conferences. The music folks can learn an awful lot be seeing the online entrepreneurs in action, observing the ways that these companies reach out to users and fans in much the same way that any band does. And the entrepreneurs can see how musicians toil and sweat and bleed their music, putting it all on the line for the one thing they love.

It’s just a quick thought I knew I had to put on here. Next year, expect me to be in Austin for both conferences.