Don Henley Quotes

When you get to a point where you're not beholden to a record company, then it's up to you to say, 'OK, enough knob-turning. We're done.'

I suddenly realized that in order to do what I wanted to do, I had to become that which I hated - which is the head of a record company or a digital media conglomerate - and just do whatever you want.

I have just enough people paying attention that I have the freedom to be in charge. And I have a great record company - Nonesuch understands what I'm about.

You can be more creative when you're not feeling like a slave. When you're on a record label, they have you like that.

It is hard, though, 'cos record labels love to boss you around. I won't let them do that anymore.

Do not let any record company disturb your creative flow. You are not writing for the record company. You're writing for the public.

The record company stay out of my way. Whenever the record is finished, they take it.

That's my favorite subject because it really levels the playing field for artists these days. You don't have to sell out to the record company. You don't have to get a five hundred thousand dollars, or whatever, and pay them back for the rest of your life to record a record.

I am not going to be dictated to by fans, certainly. I am dictated enough to by my record company to last me a million years.

I never had many problems to do my music and to give it to a record company. Rarely do they try to argue with me about my music, probably because it's still too far-out.

I don't want a record company, but I need one, unfortunately.

Any artist manages his own business along with his manager. Every band should.

A lot of things encouraged me to start my label. I think it's very important for an artist to know how many records they've sold and where they've sold. I know that I have never been treated the way I'm supposed to be treated - like an artist. That's why I do things for myself. I feel like I'm a free man.

I'm pushing ahead on my own - you no longer need a large record company to make you a star.

I certainly have gotten caught up in the music business at various times in my life, mostly because you want to get along with whatever record company you're dealing with. I don't want to be flaky. I don't want to be some temperamental, hard-to-work-with musician.

Actually, I have another record I made with them in 1976, but I've had such a bad experience with record companies, because I keep my head so much in music and not in business.

Artists and the traditional record company model are at odds. The music business has notoriously taken from the artist. That shouldn't be the narrative.

I find it so funny how people that don't write the music, and have no involvement in it, can make such huge decisions on behalf of artists.

When you are signed to a major label, everyone wants to have a say in who you are and what you are doing.

I have my own label and I'm my first artist.

Being a pop-leaning, female artist, you'd think that I'd have my record company breathing down my neck and trying to control everything I'm doing. Actually, they've just kind of let me take the wheel.

You might be like, 'I want really big hits.' But when you get really big hits, and your label is making $150 million, they are people who are now interested in what you do. They are going to begin to tell you what to do, and so you become important. So your creative freedom - you're not going to have that again.

The record companies don't give you a chance, like in the old days when they went, 'Here's a pile of money. Go make a good record!'

Interscope is run more like a rock band than a record company. It's run in a very spontaneous, heartfelt way.

When I was 17-years-old, I was in the music business.