One of the things I wasn’t expecting when I came to the Sounds Digital conference in London was that the person I have the most in common with in terms of understanding of music, culture and media would be a Vice President of Global Digital Operations for Sony Music.
I’ve actually had to reconsider what I’m going to say in my presentation – not because Matthew Hawn gave me lots to kick against… but because he’s already said a lot of the things that I’d planned to talk about.
The interesting thing about all this is the fact that I love it when that sort of cognitive dissonance springs up. It’s a challenge and it makes me really consider what it is I think is important in this sort of conversation.
It’s the easiest thing in the world to divide the online music debate up into good guys and bad guys, and to use phrases like ‘the evil empire’.
Don’t get me wrong – corporations are not suddenly my friend, and nor are they typically the friend to independent artists. But it’s great to discover people who essentially work deep in the heart of Mordor, but are fans of great music, and absolutely get how the internet works as a narrative, conversational medium, and how music makes sense to people culturally.
The thing that tipped me off (and this came up at the delegate’s dinner last night) was the fact that Hawn was (and continues to be) an original member of The Well – a pre World Wide Web online community that I was briefly a part of in the mid-90s.
I love meeting smart people who extend my understanding of the digital music space, and who come from a really grounded understanding of internet culture. The fact that Hawn is within a major record label (who – he fully admits “don’t get it – and may not ever – and they’re screwed if they don’t”) – just adds another fascinating dimension.
Matthew Hawn is on Twitter as @jukevox
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Tagged: Matthew Hawn, Sounds Digital