There are 2,000 bands playing at this year’s SXSW in March. You couldn’t possibly assign your entertainment reporter to cover them all. So AOL (sponsor of SXSW) is hiring a stringer to cover each band. AOL is paying $50 per writer to report on a given band, according to paidContent. This is part of AOL’s Seed project, which acquires and distributes content for AOL properties. In this case, the content is for Spinner, an AOL music site. Writes paidContent’s Staci Kramer:

“Those selected will be sent the name of a band with instructions to research them, interview them and write up a 1,000-word Q&A based on a template format. Some questions will be provided. The writers also will produce a bio of each band. Those who make the cut and are already going to SXSW may get more assignments from Seed and Spinner for show reports and photos.”

This is a fascinating move. For $100,000, you get complete coverage of 2,000 bands and the start of a database of those bands. When you think of the tens of thousands of dollars some local stations pay to cover events – and then can only show a small part of them – the AOL SXSW plan makes all the sense in the world.

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