Zane Lowe Shares Gems About the Music Industry in SXSW Keynote
Zane Lowe‘s presence and influence in the music industry is undeniable, so whenever he speaks, you’d be wise to listen. 2017 SXSW attendees were lucky enough to hear from the Beats 1 host and creative director during a special keynote address.
For those who were unable to attend, SXSW recently shared a 45-minute video of the speech which features Lowe digging into the importance embracing innovation and his start at Beats 1.
“We had three months to build Beats 1 from scratch… first question we asked on day one was… is this even radio?” Lowe recalled. “Radio had been driving pop music in the world for 50 years, and for all of those years, that was the only way to get a hit record. I’m not sure that’s still the case. Radio listenership like that is declining and in some cases gone. The Norwegians are turning off their FM signal. Where does new music fit on most terrestrial radio these days? With few exceptions, mainstream music radio has not been a driving force for change for some time. That’s why college, pirate, digital and blogs do the ground work for it.”
Lowe also touched on how artists have pushed the boundaries, like Beyoncé‘s incredible rollout for Lemonade or Tyler, the Creator creating his own app. He also spotlighted Frank Ocean’s decision to debut “Chanel” on Beats 1 and play it for nearly an hour with no break. “Could we have done that using traditional models… using the old expectations of what artists should do for U.S.? No. Look at all this creativity, we need to reflect it. It’s our job… to be a conduit. Between the artist and the fan. Technology has freed us all. And now, music moves fast. So, to survive… we have to move fast too.”
Check out the full video above to hear more gems from Zane Lowe. Below is the clip that played before his speech and features some major interviews from his career.
