Daniel Ek Quotes

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.

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.

I never gave up on that idea, you know, that jazz musicians have the same opportunity as everybody else and that it's what you put on that record that makes the difference whether you sell it or not or are able to get it into people's households.

That's just the music industry. They always want you to write something like the one that was popular.

You don't really need a lot of hype and to be famous to sell songs.

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.

I've never commercialized my music. I've seen that ruin too many people who think two-minute ditties are the answer.

The whole point of 'Acid Rap' was just to ask people a question: does the music business side of this dictate what type of project this is? If it's all original music and it's got this much emotion around it and it connects this way with this many people, is it a mixtape? What's an 'album' these days, anyways?

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.

Put out great music, and that's that.

It's a bummer sometimes but I always believe that great bands and great music always prevail.

Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well.

I've basically got an album full of singles.

If I have a hit, then I hope the people who like the hit song go out and buy my album so they can hear it all.

If there is a good musical reason, I think it might draw more attention and sell, though it is not guaranteed. To make a record without a musical reason, you have to either be a pop star who sells automatically or just be lucky.

When I started playing music, people weren't selling 5 million records. That was not the standard; that was not the focus.

The only thing I think of is the next hit record.

Chance The Rapper makes some of the greatest music out, and he build his brand up organically, and the fans have reacted to it.

Adele ultimately did well in such a large way because she affects everybody, and the way that she writes seems to be popular music, not because of her skin color but because she writes great music, and it's popular in that way.

There is so much talent in the country, and not all of that necessarily is confined to Bollywood. There are some great musicians from the independent music scenario in India making some great music.

My songs were already a hit track with over 100 million views/comments and multi-hundred thousand downloads on online websites before coming to Bollywood.

I guess if you make quality music then it has a longevity and it will find its place.

I think great music sells records, and I also think, do you want to be a reality star, or someone that actually has credibility? Because you can't have both.

People put mixtapes out every few months, every year. They come often. Not 'Mood Muzik.' It's a totally different type of monster. And when you hear it, you should be able to understand why.

I want to have hit records, but I'm not searching to say, 'All right, I need this to be in the club. I need this, that.' I'm just making quality music.