Tessanne Chin Quotes

Unless I've got Katy Perry on the cover of my CD, it's going to be tough to sell a lot of records.

After we wrote The Wreckoning, our record label did listen.

Often, it's the little things, like the title of a song, that can make a huge difference in its success.

I saw how hard it was for even really talented bands to reach an audience.

I want to make more fans, sell records.

I was actually really stunned that my label suggested 'Door' as the single to lead with, as it's such a long and winding song.

Once we put 'So Anxious' out, it was a wrap.

Now that I'm with RCA, they were able to get radio on board, and it's just really awesome to see their support and 'What Ifs' going to No. 1.

There's people that have never heard our album. The most they've seen is either our video on 'TRL' or our picture on the cover of magazines.

A lot of artists feel it's not worth it to sign with a major label, because if you don't have a giganto hit, then you're not going to get a video made. You're not going to probably get much tour support. You're not going to get promotion. You're certainly not going to get a publicist who's going to pay much attention to you.

It was so simple in the old days. You put out an album, people promoted it, it got in the charts, and you had a hit.

The music industry is saying, This is the format, and if you'll fit into this format, you can be on radio, and if radio will play you, MTV will expose you, and MTV will expose you, we'll sell records.

A lot of people see a Nissan ad and they see a finished product in a record store or on iTunes and that's the face of the band.

How does a band like System of a Down get big?

This is a business built on promotion. We've been giving music away to radio stations for 30 years.

I'd love to get played on the radio, but it just doesn't happen.

You know, if nobody knows who you are, nobody's going to buy your record.

MTV made a huge impact. Heavy rotation took you from selling 1m albums to 20m albums, and that meant a lot of dough.

Good bands won't get famous anymore unless they get really lucky.

The music business is rougher than the movie business. In film you get noticed in a small role, even in a movie that bombs. But in records you better have that hit or else it's 'See you later.'

I once worked at a record label called London Records. The company was owned by Roger Ames, one of the most successful figures in the British music industry. Roger always placed a value on loafing, on holidays, on not being in the office all the time.

If you want to put out a million CDs and sell them and get them played on the radio, and even videos, or whatever, if that still exists, that kind of muscle can only come from a label like Columbia.

When you're an independent artist, you need as much play or promotion as you can get.

Man, I was scared. I didn't know what to think. All of a sudden, I got a record climbing the charts, and I'm out in the streets. You know, workin' on the docks. And the first week, it sold something like 40,000 in New Orleans.

'Dream Police' was in the can and ready to go when 'Budokan' started taking off worldwide, sales-wise.