Alan Walker
Alan Walker is a Norwegian record producer and DJ. He is best known for his 2015 single “Faded.” The track received platinum certifications in over ten different countries. Walker is also ranked 17th on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list of 2017. His YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel registered in Norway with about 4.5 million current subscribers.
Alan WalkerInterview
On March 24, 2018, Alan Walker sat with OneEDM for an exclusive interview after his set at Ultra.
How does your experience with Ultra compare with other performances you have had?
Alan Walker: Ultra is an honor. It is such a big festival, and it is an honor to be here. I think it is really cool that there is a live stream, which makes it possible for people worldwide to join the people at the festival. Anyone can turn on the television and view the live stream; they can watch the moments and enjoy the show.
What has been your favorite festival to perform at so far?
That is very hard to say. There are so many great festivals. Ultra, Tomorrowland, Lollapalooza, the list goes on and on. I really enjoy any festival.
Do you have any dream destinations to perform at?
Australia. I have never been there, but I would love to go to Sydney and just check it out and perform. I would also consider South Africa.
Do you have any projects that you want to share with us? Do you have any plans for the next year?
This year, I am working on an album. I am working on a couple of tracks and collaborations and remixes, as well as some other stuff. I, therefore, think it is going to be a pretty exciting year.
What are your top three favorite songs?
That is a hard one. But my number one favorite song is “Time” by Hans Zimmers. Number two is”Heading Up High” by Armin van Buuren. Number three is”Nova” by Arix.
Do you have any dream collaborations for the future?
A dream collaboration for the future would be with Sia. She has a very unique and nice vocal.
You released your track “Faded” through NoCopyrightSounds on YouTube. What was your reason for putting it on NoCopyrightSounds? Do you have any opinions on copyright related to that?
Before I became a known persona, I was already releasing copyright free music. At the time, I did not know how to get my music on Spotify or other streaming sites. Instead, I put all of my music out for free on YouTube and SoundCloud. Then NoCopyrightSounds found me and picked up my music.
They had the same concept as what I was already doing. I wanted people to be able to download my music for free and use it for whatever they wanted. In a sense, NoCopyrightSounds was like a dream label for me. I knew a few other people who had been on there releasing free music too, so it was a dream come true.
To follow up on that, do you believe music should be free? Do you think artists should make a profit off of your music by selling tracks?
What I have been doing with NoCopyrightSounds is giving people the opportunity to either buy the song or just download it for free. Furthermore, I think copyright free music is actually the future now. There are so many content creators out there looking for music, and these people need to form something.
It is also a huge market for promoting music as well. It is incredible. Putting out free music is basically free promotion. When people use your music in their videos, it is kind of like they are giving back to you as well as you giving to them.
You have some history with gaming as well. Could you tell us more about that?
Growing up I was very interested in programming. I would be the kind of guy who would play a game and wonder, well how did they actually make this? It really caught my interest. Because of that, I have created to enact Alan Walker with a gaming brand. Everything, even the style around Alan Walker, is gamer-ish.
It is also really helpful when it comes to my music as well because NoCopyrightSounds is basically about gaming. It is a record label that gives music to content players and gamers on YouTube and Twitch. I think that is really incredible. Having that history of gaming, I feel like it really helps me reflect on Alan Walker as an artist and also as a person, both on social media and everywhere.
In many of your shows, you wear a mask. What are your reasons for that?
The reason I wear the mask is not necessarily because I want to hide my skin and my face, but because I want to spread a message that anyone can be a Walker no matter who you are. Just put on a mask, and you can become a Walker. That is pretty cool.
Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about you?
Well, I am from Bergen, Norway in the U.K. I am a huge gamer. I love gaming. That is a really open-ended question [laughs].
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