Mohit Chauhan Quotes

You put a piece of music out, and it's not in your hands anymore, and that's cool with me.

I'm singing the music publisher's theme song - it ain't a commercial.

Once you put songs out, they're not yours anymore. They're everyone else's.

Our first manager really pushed that we not sell our publishing rights, which is one of the earliest things an artist will do: They'll sell in order to get a cash advance.

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.

I will never sign to a major record label again. If, by some mega fluke, a record of mine looked like it might break big, I'd try and do it via an indie or somehow license it. I'm not having my music owned by those corporate bastards again.

So I guess the complete lack of any new developments is what struck me. That and the fact that much of the good we had done for the artists' side of the industry with G.O.D. had been just as quickly undone by the big boys.

Sometimes you are at the mercy of record companies or publishing companies.

The pressure is only from the producers and the labels. No composer, no singer would ever want to sing a remix.

The big thing is I'm not with a major label. I've been independent since the get-go, and I've been very lucky to get some good advice on keeping hold of copyright and that kind of stuff.

I rarely have any contact with the artists who cover my songs.

My strongest message is: 'Never give your songs away. Never sign a contract you can't get out of.'

Well I know I was contracted to Polydor so they couldn't use my name.

Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential.

I would never put my songs in a commercial.

There's this thing called compulsory licensing law that allows artists through the record companies to take your music at will without your permission.

I think we have to bottom out. When the studios jump out of the ring, perhaps the artist can get back in.

I'm the only girl songwriter that fights for a lot of things. I fight for songwriting fees, which record labels want you to shut up about.

I hate record labels. They think they know everything. I want to hear them try to sing it.

I did not start IC and Inteam to have control over my music. I had control before and after.

It's nice if people ask to use your song. You have to make a decision as an artist how you feel about that.

Everything about the music industry takes away from you as an artist. They're always wondering what the next thing is: 'What do you have?' It's a very introverted process.

Songwriters, you have to work - you have to wait for residuals. You have to pray that the song's going to be a hit. And then a year later, you might get a check.

Artists and the traditional record company model are at odds. The music business has notoriously taken from the artist. That shouldn't be the narrative.

It's hard for new artists to keep hold of what they own.