If you know somebody in the music business, they’ll tell you that South By Southwest is a clusterfuck now — that what started as an intimate gathering of local Austin, Texas musicians and a few indie bands has become a jungle of corporate sponsorships and pure promotion. (Among the scrappy up-and-coming artists who made big splashes this year: R.E.M and, um, Van Morrison.) The other big knock is that South by Southwest doesn't make sense anymore now that the CD business is dying: that the old model of bands coming to town looking for some press and a record contract doesn't apply anymore.

Much of this is true. But South By Southwest isn't declining with the old music business — it's replacing it. Attending SXSW gives you a picture of the new rock world in a way that nowhere else does: It’s a world where Guitar Hero has an enormous party tent, and the guys that every band wants to meet aren't record label scouts — they're representatives from iTunes (who came down by the dozen, but kept a low profile) and music supervisors looking to book indie music on commercials. One of the new power brokers, holding meetings with big press and major acts: Avi Partovi, the head of iLike, the largest Facebook music application.

Most important, there were no shortage of great bands. I saw mindblowingly good shows by My Morning Jacket, the Black Keys, UK sensation Duffy, Robyn, These New Puritans and unknown Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi. As Moby said when we spoke with him for RollingStone.com, the music business may be dying, but music is better than ever.