George Benson Quotes

If you look at Adele, the reason she did so well was she created great music. It wasn't about a clever marketing trick.

I guess I've been making records since I was 16, and even when 50 people bought them, I thought that was amazing.

I was asked, 'Why do you think the male 'X Factor' winners haven't been successful in the past?' And I said, 'Because obviously the body of work that they've brought out wasn't good enough,' and that was it.

Anything can wait for a hit record. That, after all, is what everyone wants at the end of the day.

I want to sell out arenas and sell millions of records.

The record business has always mystified me. Sometimes there are reasons why things sell or don't sell that can't be understood by mere mortals.

There will always be some kid who's the new Kurt Cobain writing great lyrics and singing from his soul. The problem is they're not marketing that anymore or putting it out there.

Bands that say they don't care about how their records sell are liars.

I am in a business that's built on record sales and reputation and how your single is doing and where your song is on iTunes. But the kind of music that I do comes from my beliefs.

I want to sell out arenas and make an album and work with some of the best artists in the world.

I feel like I'd like to continue putting out records and start putting them out more rapidly than I have until now and for me if I can keep selling the records to the fans that already like me that's fine.

I actually don't think that I'm gonna sell a lot of records.

Our first record, 'Huey Lewis And The News', was seen by no one - it sold 25 copies.

The problem that I have is with the music business. For some reason it seems almost impossible to get anything, any music, released which includes improvisation or soloing.

The desire to hit a big home run is dominating the music business.

Music is so hard. It's a struggle to get people to care. It's hard to make an impact in today's world because people aren't buying records anymore.

Just because you're a star on television doesn't mean that you can be a music phenomenon or an artist. You have to have the material to back it, and it's all about hit songs. I can name you every 'Idol' winner and why they didn't go on to have success - their songs. The ones who have - their songs.

We've sold over 100,000 records so far, and we're an independent label.

I don't ever have the pressure of making a hit, because I've never had a hit song, per se. The closest thing to a hit song was 'Shiraz,' and it's not your prototypical hit song, with a catchy hook and all this other stuff.

To remain relevant though, I think making great records is the key.

When I do an album I try to find a producer that's excited about something that they want me to sing, and I check with the record company to find out what they think they can sell - which is their No. 1 priority.

But I remember we sold nearly 18,000 records in one day.

I just want to keep saturating the market and radio with as many hit records as I can.

I'm gonna be honest. I don't care about much. I care about people liking my music. I made it very far without nothing being on radio.

Nowadays, you have to sell, like, half a million or a million records just to break even.