Robert Smith Quotes

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't think music should be free.

There's all this talk of music needing a monetary value, this ownership of music, even that it needs a physical form. But intrinsically... it's music. It should be better than that.

I'm not interested in disposable music.

I see everybody arguing about what the value of music should be instead of what I think the bigger conversation is, which is that music has value, it's subjective and we're moving to a new era where the audience is taking more responsibility for supporting artists at whatever level.

Any time you can give consumers more of what they want, it's a good thing. Unbundling the album is a good thing. In the case of music - because it is content that you can slice into songs - doing that is of huge benefit to consumers.

Look: I download music illegally, if I really want it. But I always then buy the record - I support art.

We have to make the physical music a little more valuable instead of just having a download link and a bunch of songs you downloaded from some torrent site. People try to make the music value-less, and I don't think we're going to stop that train, but the one thing that they can't devalue are things that are in the outside world.

There are certainly good examples of incredibly brilliant, beautiful music that has been made commercially available and sold everywhere. But I would say that, for the most part, quantity certainly does not speak well for quality.

Boy bands should be exploded from a great height. They're just pretty people singing music written by others.

You don't ever want to devalue music. Music is important; it's necessary product. I always try to make sure that there's a value - that people appreciate music and realize that there's a value to it.

Music is always going to be only as sophisticated as the culture that consumes it.

Napster is great so long as they put out tracks on there that have been officially released. I don't really mind people downloading my music; I also see it as a compliment. And if you are a real music lover, you want to have the original CD anyway 'cause then you feel more connected to the artist.

I did not start IC and Inteam to have control over my music. I had control before and after.

Rock and roll music - people want records. For me, it's the whole thing - the package. I don't get satisfaction from buying an MP3.

Finally, I would like to remind record companies that they have a cultural responsibility to give the buying public great music. Milking a trend to death is not contributing to culture and is ultimately not profitable.

Books don't live and die by awards. You don't listen to an Hector Lavoe album because it won some awards.

The iPod has taken away the whole platinum record sales prospect. Sincerity and specificity are going to be the hot commodities in music. Everybody can have anything that they want, so now it gets into what specifically you have to give.

One of the things I wonder is whether it's good that the whole free model makes a lot of people listen to more of your music. I'm wondering if it devalues it, it becomes disposable, because you can get it so easily.

As long as someone wants to hear my music, I don't care if it's a ringtone or the album or whatever.

I don't need a sensationalized headline to sell music or to bring attention to my music. It's the music and it's always been about the music.

With recording, everything changed. The prospect of music being detachable from time and place meant that one could start to think of music as a part of one's furniture. It's an idea that many composers have felt reluctant about because it seemed to them to diminish the importance of music.

I think the pop chart today is entirely market-driven. And it has nothing to do with public taste. And it has nothing to do with moving music forward. It's simply a market chart.

I like all music. Well, I don't like music that was created to make money. I don't really like bands that don't write their own music.

I still don't believe that all pieces of music are the same price. I just don't think that's America.

I think hopefully we've got enough brain cells left to decide if our music is really worth something.