#TuesdayTunesday-Neil Gibb

Did you make a conscious decision to be independently published?

 Yes. It was a crucial part of my strategy. 

How important is it for you that you were? 

One of my chapters is about how Artic Monkeys went straight into the charts at number one with their first single and how being with an idependent label was a crucial part of that, so an indie ethos was very important.

Do you think fear is a driver of change?

Very much so. But it needs to be balanced with hope and that is a big part of my book. Where there is no hope, and crucially pathways to participate in making tangible change, people become desperate which leads to the kind of polarisation and conflict we are seeing more and more of just now. 

How did undertaking a TED talk change your way of thinking, what was the response to it?

My book was always really a spoken word experience in written words so Ted was an ideal forum. I think more and more we are going to see the book of the experience rather than the other way around. Malcolm Gladwell’s Revionist History Podcastis a great example of this. 

How does music feature in ‘The Participation Revolution’ and in what respect?

Music is one of the key threads of how I tell the story of how our economy is shifting from one based on passive consumption to active participation – starting with the story of Madonna’s move in 2007 from a traditional record label to an events management company, via Arctic Monkeys, Stone Roses and the Coachella Festival.  

Does music reflect culture or drive it forwards in your opinion?

It is a circle. Many people don’t realise how much pop music is driven by new tech and how much it is part of the adoption and devlopment of tech. Rock was enabled by the devlopment of larger and larger amplifiers and effects pedals, punk by the introduction of cheap recording equipment, dance music by digital. Grandmaster Flash was as much an engineer as a musician with his development of sliders. And the story of the Roland 808 is a classic case study of how products get developed and morphed by their users. 

Is there more artistic freedom because of the internet or do you think that it stifles it?

 Both. The rise of the Youtube star and Instagram influencers show how the internet can be used by creative individuals, often with limited budgets, to reach a global audience. At the same time it means a lot of people don’t want to put the work in and are looking for quick fame which creates a lot of noise which can drown out talent.  

Has the rise of social media made it more necessary for fans to access bands /feel that bands can  create an intimacy that boosts sales?

Totally – just look at the renaisannce of Johnny Marr on Instagram. It is not about ‘boosting sales’ though, it is about building a fanbase that in turn with increase sales – although a lot of those sales may be events rather than products.

Who do you rate as a reader, what book has most influence you which was published in the 21st Century? Probabaly ‘Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwelll and ‘Freakonomics’ by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. I’d also say ‘No Logo’ by Naomi Klein but that was published in 1999.