Lunchtime Keynote: The Distribution of Independence: From the Green Line to the Blockchain

Special Events

Presenter:
Rich Jensen, Independent - Seatttle, WA, USA

The origins of the Sub Pop Record label lead back to an Independent music policy, called “The Green Line,” put in place at a tiny community radio station serving Olympia, Washington, in the mid-1970s. Fifteen years later Sub Pop achieved international fame for promoting Seattle-based bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney during the Seattle grunge movement. The label has a history of irreverence, innovation, and a cultural sensitivity that has made it a role model for other so-called Indie labels and artists around the world. In his keynote address, former “Sub-President’”and early Sub Pop recording artist Rich Jensen explores opportunities the new digital technologies such as Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Music Metadata, and the Creative Passport to offer to unleash artists and their communities today into a world that seems hungry for their guidance and inspiration. If Sub Pop had those technologies at its disposal in the 1980s, how would the world be different today?