Gordon Lightfoot Quotes

I've copyrighted 3,000 songs.

I will always really work hard to write as much as I can, but I also love sitting back and waiting on those big Nashville songwriters to send me some great songs, too.

If somebody makes a record, no matter how many years later it's released, they or their families should be entitled to the proceeds.

There are so many items that are not in the copyright domain. And people might not realize the Library of Congress manages the copyright process for the nation.

I'm always looking for great songs, and not being much of a songwriter, I depend on great songwriters to send them to me. I go through tons of stuff, and sometimes you just find material that kind of fits and becomes something special.

When people who are songwriters say 'That's my property and if you give it away for free then I'll lose my incentive,' then, well, good riddance.

My mom eventually told me if I wanted to be in the music industry, I should start writing my own songs. At that time, I was in junior high and had no idea where to start - I was writing joke rap songs with friends. Eventually, I wrote my first song in high school, and my mom took me to go record it with one of her band member friends at his house.

The whole industry evolves around a great song.

That folk music led to learning to play, and making things up led to what turns out to be the most lucrative part of the music business - writing, because you get paid every time that song gets played.

I make a lot of pieces of music that I never release as CDs.

I've never gotten money from most of those records. And I made those records: In the studio, they'd just give me a bunch of words, I'd make up a song! The rhythm and everything. 'Good Golly Miss Molly'! And I didn't get a dime for it.

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

I was doing theater in my high school, and I started writing sort of silly songs on the piano backstage in summer theater. I eventually put them online and started getting this little following.

My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn't pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the songs.

An intellectual property worker will take copyright protection on everything he can get.

With Ghost Tunes, you just try to do what's right. And what's right is whatever the copyright owner wants to do with their music, they do it.

All artists deserve compensation for their work, including musicians.

As long as you have a percentage of a song, that lasts forever. You have to study the business. Don't just be in it for money. You have to understand what you're in it for, then get your money.

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

Throughout my career I've never worried about who will be singing my song on the screen.

Before I started writing for myself, I was writing country records, and they were coming out dope.

As songwriters, we are lucky to have ASCAP on our side, offering support and fighting for our rights.

I can do anything onstage. Here's the misconception: You could record an album called 'The Best of Styx.' And all you would have to do is pay the individual songwriters a mechanical royalty.

With songwriters like me who are prolific, you just write the song and then put it on tape.

I consider myself a songwriter... I guess the business end is my songs and the fun part is playing the guitar.