Kurt Elling Quotes

If I'd just been interested in record sales, I would have taken one of the deals I was offered after 'Soapstar Superstar,' made a quick covers album and probably had some success for five minutes. I decided that wasn't for me.

When no one's buying your records, it's easy to justify selling a song. But once you start selling records, you can't really justify having two songs in Cadillac commercials. It looks greedy. And it is greedy. This whole music thing should be about music.

There's very few people who want to just make beautiful films that make money, when they can make films that make huge money.

Let's not forget, art can sell. You ain't gotta front all the time on your records.

Because obviously the whole purpose of putting records out is purely and simply to make money.

Most of Hollywood is about making money - and I love money, but I don't make the films thinking about money.

No one starts playing my kind of music to make a fortune. But I do want to keep doing what I do and I do want to continue selling records. And I would, eventually, quite like some money.

I now believe that major labels can only work with people who care more about fame and money than the quality of the art they produce.

The box office isn't something I consider. If I do, I can't really work.

If people really like your music but you're not selling so many records, I don't think it really matters.

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.

In the music industry, we value large success. I realized that while I would like that, that it's not what my writing is about. And if I start making it about that, it becomes impure.

If any of our songs ever did make it on the top ten, I'd disband the group immediately.

My goal was never to sell many records.

I'm not trying to sound pretentious, but we did sell 12 million records on the first album, so we did get paid a little bit.

I think I've done a pretty fantastic job, but of course I want to sell millions of records.

Even though the popularity and the fanbase is much much greater, and more people have heard about me through things like the Grammys and the Ivors and touring and word of mouth, it doesn't reflect in the sales of the record and doesn't go into my pocket.

I have an issue with the commercial aspect of moviemaking: I don't see why a movie can't make a lot of money and also be good.

Selling another 10 million albums is not a priority. Putting out something you're proud of is.

Who decides what is and what isn't punk? I want to write songs that people hear and feel, and I want to be successful and reach a big audience. I'm not trying to be the coolest guy in the world; I'm trying to write songs that mean something to people. As you get successful, sometimes you lose one set of fans and gain another.

Keep it in tune with the times, but don't write with the specific purpose of trying to create a hit. If you're doing it strictly to make money, you're crazy. There are easier ways to make money.

Why do you judge me as a musician, John? All I'm interested in is making money.

I think I deliberately sold out a couple of times. I picked the songs that I thought would do well in the marketplace, even though I didn't really love the song.

Oh, well, I'd like to have commercial success. I guess.

I don't have a problem being on 'MTV,' and I don't have a problem being on the radio. I actually like it. So there. And anyone that calls me a sell out is just jealous.