“Art is either plagiarism or revolution.”

– Paul Gauguin

South by Southwest is happening in Austin this weekend. Anybody out there attending? If not, and you’re a DirecTV subscriber, you don’t have to miss it. Today and tonight (March 17) on DirecTV channel 101, you can watch live broadcasts of musical performances for free.

A new album from Nine Inch Nails is slated for release in April. For anyone who‘d like to remix a single from the album in Apple Logic or GarageBand, you can download a GarageBand file of the song “Survivalism” from NIN‘s Web site. You should be able to open the file in any application that can open or import Apple Loops, including most audio editors.

Okay, so the rebate I mentioned below has expired, but even without the rebate, the prices are still pretty good bargains. If you‘re shopping for an M-Audio Keystation 49e, though, it‘s not too late to save a few bucks. Until the end of March, you can get a very similar $20 rebate from newegg.com. It brings the price of the M-Audio Keystation 49e down to $64,99, plus $10.34 for 3-day shipping.

If you‘re a GarageBand or Logic 7.2 user who wouldn‘t mind owning a nice control surface at a bargain price, have I got a deal for you! The Apple Store has the M-Audio iControl on sale for $99.95 (plus tax) with free shipping, and you can apply this $20 rebate for a total price of only $79.95. That’s $100 off retail!

If a Mac-specific control surface isn‘t what you need, you can use the same rebate for two other M-Audio products at the same price. The Keystation 49e is a USB MIDI keyboard controller with 49 Velocity-sensitive keys and pitch-bend and modulation wheels, and the Fast Track USB is a stereo audio interface that‘s compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered.

You‘d better move fast, though, because the rebate expires on March 7. To find these deals, just go to the Apple Store Web site and search for “iControl,” “Keystation 49e,” or “FastTrack” (not “Fast Track”).