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"Somehow, humans overturned slavery. Against their own economic interest. And that is so encouraging. It means that even when it's hard, humans ultimately do the right thing."
MOBY
I was so very tempted to title this one as Episode #43: Richard Melville Hall, just to allow you to go in without preconceived notions of Moby... the musician... that techno DJ from the 90s... or even Moby, that seriously weird dude.
Please try to leave them behind anyway. Sure, he's best known for his music. A lot of it came out more than 10 years ago. And yes, he can come off as weird. But Moby is also an incredibly well-spoken dude with unique views on lots of topics, spanning from music (fun, but not a revenue stream) and tech (profoundly baffled by it, but excited at the same time), to business and veganism.
And of course, being guided by activism, which is what seems to be the main driving force in his life these days, and what last year led to the first Circle V Festival, which is just about to launch in its second iteration.
The tickets, unfortunately, have sold out already... but you can hear Moby talk about it. And I like to think that you can hear him talk about some things that he doesn't discuss very often - like why you need to be very stupid to open a restaurant, how he ended up working with NASA, whether he prefers manned or unmanned spaceflight, and why he is, ultimately, optimistic about our capability for doing the right things.
Main things discussed in this episode
Why he's driven by veganism.
Running a restaurant - the second time around.
Virtual products vs tangible, brick-and-mortar offerings.
Two sides of tech.
Making business decisions with informed intuition.
The Circle V Festival.
The moral arc of the universe.
Transcript
Moby
Jerry Sever [00:26] Hey, my name is Jerry Sever. You’re listening to Episode 43 of the Plant Based Entrepreneur Show, the podcast for and about the people creating a plant-based future and running vegan brands where you can inspiration and ideas, learn how they got to where they are, what their approach is, and what works when you’re setting up your own plant- based business.
Joining me today is a special guest who probably needs no introduction, but just in case you’re not familiar with Moby and his work, he’s often referred to as one of the most influential electronic music artists of the 90s. His albums have sold over 20 million copies worldwide, and he’s a devoted animal rights activist, but overall, I’d say he’s a guy who’s hard to label with just one thing.
We’ll be talking about some of his past business experience today, and about the upcoming Circle V festival in LA which will be his only live gig this year, and also a great opportunity to hear some amazing vegan musicians, talks from other activists, and of course enjoy the vegan food and drinks in a beautiful environment.
Right now, it’s a pleasure to welcome Moby to the Plant Based Entrepreneur Show. Before we dive in Moby, just to give a little bit of context, you’ve been vegan for 30 years now. How has that shaped your life and business path?
Moby [01:48] It’s interesting, because most people I grew up with what I think of as that strange western paradox, where when I was a child growing up in the suburbs, I loved animals but I also loved Burger King. I loved rescue animals but I also loved pepperoni pizza, bacon, and hamburgers.
Then when I was 19, I was petting a rescue cat that my mom and I had rescued and suddenly I realized this cat had two eyes, a central nervous system, and a rich emotional life, and a desire to avoid pain and suffering. Then I realized every animal has two eyes, a central nervous system,
