Peter Gabriel shares his passion for technology

By Paul Sexton

LONDON (Billboard) - Peter Gabriel has long been admired as a pacesetter of musical exploration, a passionate campaigner for human rights and a pathfinder in technological development.

That widespread admiration will much be in evidence January 28 in Cannes, France, when Gabriel is named Personality of the Year at music industry trade conference MIDEM (Marche international de l'edition musicale).

The honor from "the world's music market" befits a true man of the world in both music and communication.

It's also the latest in a distinguished collection of trophies. In May 2007, Gabriel received a lifetime achievement title at Britain's Ivor Novello Awards, and a few months earlier the Nobel Peace Laureates bestowed the Man of Peace honor on him.

But far from resting on his laurels, Gabriel continues to pursue new challenges.

The years he spent as frontman during Genesis' most innovative era barely hinted at the inquisitive spirit of this four-time Grammy Award winner.

In the past year, Gabriel has worked extensively to develop more of the globe-embracing ideas that have always been his stock in trade. He spoke with Billboard about some of them and what 2008 holds in store.

Q: How do you feel about being MIDEM's Personality of the Year?

Gabriel: "I must be getting to that awards time of life; it's God's way of telling you you're getting on.

"MIDEM, I think I've only been once before, when we were doing OD2 (the digital provider he co-founded in 2002). We were trying to get this union together (MUDDA) of digitally downloading artists, but the artists didn't leap to it at the time. Nowadays, people get it a lot more easily."

Q: When you recently co-founded digital music platform We7, did that feel like a successor to OD2?

Gabriel: "Well, it was just another punt in the music business, but it is another thing I think is potentially important for artists. With their traditional stream of revenue -- record sales -- being largely taken away, we've got to be a little more inventive. There are lots of different models emerging, and it was exciting to see the Radiohead one. (Radiohead released its latest album online initially, letting fans set their own price.)

"With people used to hearing ads on commercial radio, we were trying with We7 to see -- if we did a lot less than that but still included ads -- (whether) there was a way people could get songs, and eventually films, for free.

"The theory is that the more targeted the ads -- and you obviously have to choose to volunteer information about yourself -- the less painful it is. If I'm looking for a hybrid car, that's the moment when I'm probably interested to hear the ads from different hybrid manufacturers, so you don't get the old 'dog food to cat owners' (advertising).

"It's not the only way of doing things, but for a generation that's grown up with 'music for free,' it's a way of continuing that but still getting some stream of income to the people that created the content."