Patti Smith Quotes

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.

I'm just not interested in selling out to get on the charts and make people happy.

Ain't nobody making music to not be heard and the easiest way to be heard is to be on the radio, but you should never compromise who you are, your values or your morals.

I don't see Hollywood as the big enemy, because this is where the money is, and not all of the companies are doing studio movies. I'm not tempted to sell out. If I'm going to become well known, I want it to be for something I'm proud of.

The business has changed so much that they're able - we're able these days in the music industry to be able to control our own destiny.

I've never believed in cheapening music by going according to what some people think is public taste.

I am in a business that's built on record sales and reputation and how your single is doing and where your song is on iTunes. But the kind of music that I do comes from my beliefs.

I don't really plan to be a pop star; I just want to be able to make music without the whole My Dad thing hanging over me, which everyone in my position goes through.

I never want to compromise my act just to get a laugh.

The music industry can make you feel like a prostitute.

I enjoy selling my music. I don't enjoy selling myself.

I know in my soul when something feels like a sell out and I think for me, I knew that if I did the Jane's Addiction reunion thing, that I would feel like a sell out. That's how it would feel to me.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

You have to work in this business on your own terms. Don't sell out for money, fame, or notoriety.

If you want to capitulate to what commercial needs are, you can always be commercially valuable, but I'm not interested in being that.

I didn't want to be on a major label. I wanted all the attention and the noise to go away because I wanted to be something a little bit more substantial.

There's no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don't try to adapt it, make it commercial.

Anybody who goes searching can find enough artistic things I've done that nobody can ever say I sold out.

Unfortunately, music devolved instead of evolved. The music business got into the hands of lawyers and accountants rather than the entrepreneurial creative people, and that's when the beginning of the end started. It's all based on money instead of art and creativity.

In my opinion, some of the hip-hop records that come out, people are willing to compromise. I'm not.

I'd rather be a poor singer/songwriter doing what I love than get rich from selling my soul.

I just never want to do anything that's going to compromise what I do. It would have to be a song where there would be honest discussion about something.

Obviously, I would like to play to bigger audiences and have a bit more success, but not if I have to commercialize.

The music business is a crazy game, especially for somebody like me who is really a purist about the art. Trying to balance the pressures of commercialism, it's a tightrope. It's a fine line between sticking to your guns and insanity.

I have refused money sometimes for a film. I have refused films when I felt that it was not for me. When it was just a job or just about making money, I said no. I wanted to make every film count, and when you are true to yourself, this gives you a certain integrity and a certain reputation.