Derek Webb talks about using more than just his music to communicate the message.
Derek talks about communicating his ideas beyond his CDs as we continue in the fourth part of the interview.
Suite: Do you plan to do more graphic novels or is it just as a project comes up?
Derek: Well, I’ve been increasingly interested in the digital side of music and kind of where I believe a lot of it is going in terms of the distribution and connecting with people online. I think that’s a really efficient way of doing things and I see a lot of going that way and I’ve been really kind of racking my brain to take full advantage of that in the last few years.
We gave away Mocking Bird for free online last year as part of the whole freederekwebb thing that we did. Through that campaign, we gave away over 80,000 copies of Mocking Bird digitally last year which was really exciting to be able to do that, to just have the technology to do that.
My feelings were, as we leaned more heavily into the digital world, I don’t want to lose what’s so great of the physical artifact, of buying a record, having a record. I miss vinyl when you open up the packaging for your vinyl record that you buy and you have like a 24” theater wide screen worth of real estate that you can put visual images.
Suite: Almost like a pop-up book.
Derek: Yeah, it was kind of an amazing medium that the compact disc was never a really tremendous medium for visual art. So, I’m trying to always think of new ways that I can connect with people with a physical artifact, to make a more compelling physical artifact for people.
They can get the record digitally online if they want. But they will have something else that they can connect with that they can’t download and pass around for free, which I’m happy for them to do with my record.
This 98-page book is not something you can download for free online. It’s something you have to actually put your hands on and look at and engage with. So the burden is basically back on us artists to make a more compelling artifact as we lean more heavily into the digital world.
That was kind of where it came from. I think we’re always going to be thinking in those terms. I don’t know if it’s going to be another graphic novel or it’s going to be something else. Our minds are pretty open at this point.
Derek Webb Interview Part One: Derek talks about the title of his new CD and writing songs.
Derek Webb Interview Part Two: Derek talks about peace and pacifism.
Derek Webb Interview Part Three: Derek expands on pacifism and tells us about his graphic novel.
Derek Webb Interview Part Five: Derek talks about his courtship and having fun.
Derek Webb Interview Part Six: Derek talks about reuniting with his friends in Caedmon's Call
