ZANE LOWE
When Zane Lowe was announced as one of the DJs for Apple Music’s upstart Beats 1 radio show in 2015, there was little reason to assume that his most notable work was still ahead of him. Having earned widespread notoriety in England as a DJ—spinning records both on festival stages and from behind the mic for 12 years at Radio 1 on the BBChe remained largely unknown to American audiences at the time of his move. Five years later, he is arguably the most relevant radio personality in American music media, his show having become the go-to stop for the biggest names in pop music. With everyone from Kanye West and Justin Bieber to Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke stopping by to appear on his show, Lowe has pioneered a type of informal, under-the-skin interview that breaks through the promotional platitudes and cuts to the heart of what drives musicians to make their art. Yet despite his increased profile, the New Zealand native remains a fan at heart, his breathless enthusiasm for discovering and exploring new music his enduring brand. Here, Lowe discusses the changes in the music industry over the past two decades, why genre matters less now than ever before, and how Billie Eilish has captured the zeitgeist for a new generation of listeners.
Matt Fink (Under the Radar): Since you’ve been on both the artist and the media side, I really wanted to talk to you about the changes that you’ve seen in the music industry over the past 20 years. How do you think it’s different for a musician starting out today than it was when you started?
Zane Lowe: That’s a really good question. You can go deep into that. The broad picture for me is that I think in the past expectations were set for us as artists. You start making music because you need to and you want to, and there’s something you want to say. And then you would be expected to find a label or someone to invest in you. For me, it was never about the money. It was like, “I don’t know how to do this. You seem to have the address book of everyone who can help get this record out. You seem to know how to get this music out and reach an audience. I don’t.” So you were immediately giving your power away back in the day. You were immediately handing over a certain amount of the control over your own career to an investor, and that’s not to say that those investors were all bad or that they weren’t great records people who made incredible careers. But you immediately start working according to the expectations set by somebody else—by the record label or a manager or a lawyer or a record store or a reporter or the media who review your record and give it numbers. Or me, as a DJ—am I going to play it? You’re immediately putting your music out in
