Iggy Pop to Give John Peel Lecture in October, on 'Free Music in a Capitalist Society'

The BBC has announced the speaker for the annual John Peel lecture, which will be held on October 16 and broadcast via BBC Four on October 19. Iggy Pop will be giving this year's address. The theme of his talk will be "Free Music in a Capitalist Society."

"Sometimes it takes strange circumstances to provide a mirror in which to find yourself," Pop noted in a statement (via NME). "I've never given a lecture in my life, but on the day I'm going to attempt a discussion on the subject of free music in a capitalist society. This is a struggle which never ends."

The punk icon hosts a radio show on BBC Radio Six on Sunday afternoons and is probably as qualified as anyone to discuss the current state of music profits, considering that he has both (as mentioned before) served as a punk figurehead and somehow maintained a career for nearly 50 years while doing so.

Charlotte Church was the 2013 speaker, discussing women and their underrepresentation in the music industry.

The series is named after John Peel, a renowned UK DJ, who was one of the original BBC One DJ's and was vital in introducing music from a number of genres to listeners in the UK.

"I get the feeling that John was the kind of guy who would have done his job for nothing, as long as he felt great about it," Pop said about the lecture's namesake. "So we have that in common. Examining his life, I was interested to learn that he found his voice in large part through his wanderings in America."

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