Impact of digital music on signed artists: interview with Whitt from Spiderbait and Clint from Something For Kate

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We began the interviewing process by interviewing Clint Hyndman (Something For Kate drummer) and Damien "Whitt" Whitty (Spiderbait guitarist). Both musicians Whitt and Clint had some extremely valuable things to say about the world of digital music, and the role of record companies within it. According to them, the impact on artists as a result of music being available online has been mostly positive. They believe that it has increased their fan base, and has been beneficial in terms of personal use, such as finding out about new (and old) bands, and having immediate access to their music. They believe that music is for everyone, and that the digital revolution has really captured this idea, particularly in that it has broken down the barrier between artists and fans. I thought this was an interesting statement to make, coming from the perspective of a musician.

On the negative side, they said that a lot of the more sentimental aspects of music have become, for the most part, obsolete. Clint talked about the “mystery” of hearing about an artist for the first time. He described it as enticing, not knowing who this person is, where they’ve come from, how their music got picked up. But this sense of mystery has been destroyed by the all-knowing internet, which can now track down and reveal all these details. This kind of exposure is, of course, part of the process of weakening the barrier between artist and fan. Clint and Whitt both agreed that the value of this mystery, and of having nothing but an artist’s physical CD to reveal who they might be, has become pretty meaningless since the advent of digital music. They also mentioned the quality of digital recordings. In their eyes, the quality of a track that has come straight from the studio is far superior to that of a file downloaded from the internet. This is another aspect of music that is not so important anymore, and has become second to accessibility.

In terms of what record labels can do to make money in the online music market, Whitt said, in plain words, “Catch up.” We thought this was a very succinct way of putting it. He and Clint believe that it’s all about finding a connection with your fans. If this can be established, they reckon fans would be much more willing to shell out in order to sustain the careers of their favourite musicians. Take Radiohead’s In Rainbows album, which we will discuss in more detail later (see "Results" post).

Overall, Whitt and Clint spoke generously on the topic, and this made for a really worthwhile, useful interview. We were a little surprised about the fact they said the digital revolution has been mostly beneficial for them as artists. They, of course, acknowledged the fact that when record labels lose money on CD sales and such, the artist also loses money. However, they believe that the good outweighs the bad, as both have had increased interest in their music that would not have been possible otherwise. As mentioned previously, Whitt stated that music is for everyone, and that the digital age has really brought this idea to life. The interview was great because it challenged our assumption that artists have suffered as a result of online music, informing us instead that they’ve really benefited from it.