Sarah Vaughan Quotes

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

I've got more creative control when I do music.

I was never your average artist, happy to do whatever the record company told me.

The record label used to try and make us do stuff, like dance, and we'd say, nah, not doing that.

There are no rules when I'm making stuff. That's why I'm glad I'm not signed. No one's telling me I got to drop this type of single or this video.

I work so I don't need to make rent through my songs, and I think if more people engaged with music without needing it to provide for their welfare, you're not beholden to anyone.

The potential success that could come with signing with a major label didn't quite outweigh how important it was for me to make my music the way I knew it needed to be made.

I don't wait on the music industry to qualify me or give me my paycheck. I go about my business as an artist and I believe that my value is in my product and in my art form, and that's why I can't be stopped, because I began producing my record by myself, without a record company.

Any time you turn off and let someone else make any artistic decision for you, you make a mistake.

I can't tell you how freeing it is to have my own label. For the first time in my career, I have total control.

When I got into the music industry, I wasn't focused on being the most famous artist or even getting a major record deal. It was just to make music on my own terms or create my own image, do my own hair, do my own makeup.

I believe in creative control. No matter what anyone makes, they should have control over it.

You can now be a master of your own destiny. I'm not sure why you would sign up with a record label.

I produce the records. I don't hand over control to some really expensive producer who then talks to the record company and then tries to bend me to their will - for commercial purposes.

I don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.

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 get offers to do huge-budget music videos with big production companies all the time, but I have no interest.

It was a lot easier to write songs before I had a record deal, because the record labels and the industry doesn't mean to put pressure on you, but they do. They don't realize that they are, but you end up having a pressure there that you feel. At times I feel myself wanting to say, 'Just let me do what I do.'

I make the kind of music I like.

The ultimate thing is creating your own stuff and making projects for yourself. That's what Seth Rogen does. He's writing and producing a lot of the movies that he's the lead in.

I'm very hands-on with my own music.

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 feel fortunate about being able to make the music I want to make and getting away with it.

I sometimes listen to music I made and find it to be something I wouldn't want to buy from a store, if there was a store. When it's like that, you have to make what you want to hear.

I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It's all authentic.