Musician Justin Vernon, leader of Bon Iver, recently held an interview with The Creative Independent where he talked at length about two major projects he has on the table: PEOPLE, an independent digital platform for music, visual art, podcasts, and essays; also, Vernon and Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s new band, Big Red Machine, which is releasing its debut through PEOPLE.
In discussing the inspiration behind PEOPLE, Vernon assures it, “isn’t some kind of Tidal thing”, and how important it is for artists to have a common space to share their creative process. “There’s so many reasons why it’s positive,” he said. “There are plenty of musicians out there who have no idea how to sell themselves and, frankly, that’s one of my skills.”
“We wanted to be there for proper record releases and things like that, but also unfinished work and works in progress,” Vernon added. “We thought the platform could act as an incubator where we can share tracks with each other as it grows. And maybe make new songs and just develop everything like that.”
Vernon makes it clear that he wants to operate everything from a “post-capitalist, post-socialist perspective,” with the expectation of eventually making things automated and permanently lowering the cost of putting out records and vinyl. “The way we look at it is: put people in the studios, quit charging them tons of money, incubate their ideas, encourage them, put them in a position to succeed, and then the music will just get better and better.”
On the topic of Big Red Machine, Vernon asserts that the band is a good way to focus his energies on a new project, without getting burnt out. “I love Bon Iver; I’ll always love the project,” he said. “But I definitely have to leave it from time to time, otherwise it’s just too much focus, and too much energy surrounding an idea that is just a band, just a project idea. It’s not more than that.”
Vernon discussed the group’s plans for a full-length LP, noting that there is a 10-song record that they’ll be “spraying out throughout the rest of the summer,” He added that there are plans for a potential vinyl release.
In T. Cole Rachel’s TCI interview with Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Aaron notes that the band effectively would not exist without the development of PEOPLE. “We took the music to a certain point and then we reached out and sent it far and wide to a lot of people. You see on every song—we’ve only posted four—but you kind of see the whole record as a thing where 30 or 40 or 50 different people feed into it. We’ve viewed it from a community standpoint.”
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