Frank Ocean Quotes

I made this record without a record label.

I didn't want to be on a major label. I wanted all the attention and the noise to go away because I wanted to be something a little bit more substantial.

I just think that any person who wants music to be their career shouldn't focus on a record label. I have seen friends who sign to a label too early in their career, and they lost control over their music, and their releases were delayed or never put out.

My whole team, it wasn't about putting the album out, it was about getting off the record company and going independent or going to another label. To the point we were like, 'Listen, just take 'Lasers.' You can have whatever percentage off the next ten records I do for the rest of my life. I just do not want to be here anymore.'

So it was out of necessity that Blackheart was born. I think it's great that now, 25 years later, we're not only putting out our own music, but are able to put out music by other bands. That's really exciting for us.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

You don't want the biggest record deal as far as money goes, you just want to make sure that the people at the label really support your band and the music and stuff.

It is great to have your own label; you can cultivate your own artists... I've worked with pretty much everyone I wanted to.

I'm one of the few that comes from this vantage point: I never tried to get a record deal.

I didn't need to depend on the record company to publish my records.

You don't need a record company to turn you into anything.

I don't see myself ever being in a position where I need to sign to a label.

I'm really excited because Interscope is really focused on artists. They've been working side by side with me creatively and allowing me to make a lot of the creative decisions, which you don't always hear about. That's why I didn't want to sign originally with a major label.

With my previous record deal, it'd be like, 'OK, so I have this track then, EMI - do you know any singers, maybe? Do you have any singers on your little label there?' And funnily enough, they didn't. But I prefer finding unknown singers myself anyway.

It's great to be able to find a way to release your music and do what you want to do artistically and not have to just worry about being accepted by the major label industry.

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

I don't have a record deal, I'm not looking for one, I don't have a manager, I'm not promoting anything.

I think what I've learned to focus on is my music, and that's why I made my record independently.

I can do whatever I want now. I can drop seven songs in two weeks and fans don't care about whether it's from an album or not. They just care about the music.

I want to be role model for people to be like, 'I don't need a major label to be a successful artist and to have a successful song.'

If I could have stayed independent from the jump, then, maybe, things would have been different. 'Return of 4Eva' would have been an album instead of a mixtape.

Doing stuff on my own terms and making a record without being signed to a label - I credit that all to my commercial work.

This is a very screwed-up business. Record labels don't sign a lot of bands these days. We just want to find a home and stay there and make records and do our thing and not have to look over our shoulder.

The label doesn't do anything but put your record in the store, that's all they do. And tell you, you don't have a single... and tell you, it's not gonna sell... that's what the label does.

You can now be a master of your own destiny. I'm not sure why you would sign up with a record label.