Camper Van Beethoven are finding new ways to be innovative. In order to get to SXSW down in Austin, Texas, they have to spend money to do that. So they are letting their fans sponsor one of their songs, that they will play at one of the shows. For a nice chunk of change – about $100, a roller derby girl will skate across the stage with one of the fan’s names. Hmm, I wouldn’t do this but that’s just me. Maybe if the name was painted on the girl’s breasts but that’s just me and my perverted thinking. Maybe people will pay for this? I don’t know. More after the jump:

The more things change, the more they stay the same… well, perhaps at least for Camper Van Beethoven, the pioneering Santa Cruz-based band that helped usher in indie-rock over a quarter-century ago. Although the band doesn’t currently have a label, they’re incorporating an inventive, if not absurd, way of funding their trip to perform at this year’s SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. And, in true DIY fashion, it isn’t too far removed from how the band originally toured and self-promoted themselves back when they released their debut full-length Telephone Free Landslide Victory in 1985.

In a nutshell, CVB are selling fans the right to sponsor songs during their two SXSW performances for $100 each. In exchange, a Santa Cruz Roller Derby Girl will skate across the stage carrying a placard with the respective fan’s name (or business name) on it.

Sponsor a CVB song at SXSW — Only $100!

Why are we doing this?
Well, as you may or may not know, performers at SXSW are not really compensated sufficiently to cover travel and lodging costs.
For a band like CVB this didn’t really matter in the days when there were actually record labels and/or our friends didn’t mind us crashing on their couches (back when we had friends…) Also, we might even have been heading toward that neck of the woods to begin with…
CVB doesn’t even have a record label so we need to raise money to play at SXSW this year.

How it works:
CVB will draw up two setlists, one for each show: approximately 35 songs total for the two shows.
The first 35 people to donate $100 dollars will get to choose a song.
The first person gets the first choice from the setlist, the second person gets the second choice etc etc. Sorry but you will have to choose from the setlists that we create. We once tried a fan generated setlist and it was really weird—unfortunately, not weird in a good way, or we’d probably be doing that more often!

What you get:

* A Santa Cruz Roller Derby Girl will walk/skate across the stage carrying a placard announcing your sponsorship of the song, within full view of the audience or cameras, to have the moment captured on film or video for all of eternity!
* You can have up to 4 names or one business on each placard.
* We will contact you later for details how your sponsorship placard will read.

We reserve the right to arbitrarily refuse sponsorship from anyone or any organization. (For instance we probably won’t be letting Mr. Hugh Jass and Ms. Ann Al-Aksam sponsor any songs. Probably.)

Here are the SXSW show details for both Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker:

Thu. March 18 “Monterey International Showcase” CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN (11:00 pm) / CRACKER (midnight) / Horse Feathers / These United States / Mother Hips / Gringo Star at Encore Patio, 611 Red River St. Austin, TX

Fri. March 19 CRACKER (6:00 pm) / BoDeans / Cheap Trick at Auditorium Shore Stage, Austin, TX [FREE concert at the SXSW Auditorium Shores Stage on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.]

Sat. March 20 “40 Watt Club Party (Athens, GA)” CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN (4:00 pm) at The Side Bar, 602 E. 7th St. Austin, TX 512.322.0697

Read more at the band’s site.