Tracy Chapman Quotes

I've never worried about how a new release will be received. I simply try to do the best I can and leave the rest to the gods. The music industry in those terms is something I loathe and detest. It conjures up images of a gigantic factory spewing out parts of the machine.

But the business side of it, as with most creative things, there is no room for business. It is about art. It's not about marketing.

It has nothing to do with commercial success. You cannot calculate in your head how to put the mosaic together to make a commercial film: that's out of the question.

When the uncreative tell the creative what to do, it stops being art.

I suppose we'll make money off our album and our singles and stuff, but, like, they were made as we wanted them, exactly with what we had to say, and done exactly how we wanted them, right? And, like, we didn't put them out to make money. We put them out because we wanted to do them, do you know what I mean?

Honestly, I really can't speak on others, but in a sense, I feel like every artist always has their problems with the industry because we all want to have our creative way.

At the end of the day, I earn a living by creating music and not sharing it with anyone because I am my own master. I know my worth.

It doesn't matter even if I am slow or fast as long as my films are honest and carries my integrity.

I've never believed in cheapening music by going according to what some people think is public taste.

I would rather fall flat on my face than try to just make a quick dollar by making music that fits into the radio format right now. It does nothing for me.

I work so I don't need to make rent through my songs, and I think if more people engaged with music without needing it to provide for their welfare, you're not beholden to anyone.

I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.

You have kids studying master class visual arts who are pushed to make films that will be successful economically; that's what they focus on. So they work for corporate interest instead of artistic expression.

I don't want to sell my soul to Hollywood - to just make run-of-the-mill stuff.

The artist never really has any control over the impact of his work. If he starts thinking about the impact of his work, then he becomes a lesser artist.

I'm in a very good place to make records. Needing to make money off music is very dangerous.

If you're an artist, it's great to have a knowledge of the business and be educated about that, but you've got to keep the balance right between business and artistry; otherwise, you get cynical.

I suddenly realized that in order to do what I wanted to do, I had to become that which I hated - which is the head of a record company or a digital media conglomerate - and just do whatever you want.

I like my drawings to be direct. I don't generally work on them for too long, but that doesn't mean that they are not works in their own right.

Being able to still make records is a privilege. I don't take it casually.

I'm not an artist who has an agenda that's set by the work.

I have worried about getting pigeon-holed, but now I think I've done enough weird, offbeat stuff not to be. And I also know that I do things for the right reasons: I've made my money, so I don't have to say yes to anything.

Several record companies had rejected my song 'Owner of A Lonely Heart' on the grounds it was 'too left field.' I never create to make a hit just to satisfy some record company executive's quarterly profit statement.

Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise.

I don't like working with hitmakers. I don't want hits! You're not even allowed to say that word around me.