Esa-Pekka Salonen Quotes

Pop music has always been about the mainstream and what appeals to the public.

Maybe if they start playing new rock bands videos, then maybe but there is no point in a guy like me spending 250 grand for a video that no one is ever going to see.

I think pop music is a great place to get new ideas across.

If I tried to make a commercial album, it would be a complete flop. I have no idea what the world at large likes.

Symphonic orchestras have almost become a glut in the market.

At home, we don't listen to our music-we listen to other people's music. It keeps you attached to the show business world.

I don't know if a song is going to be a hit or it's going to flop. I never know. I just do the music and if people like it, they like it.

The first year I started in San Francisco, there was an American work on every program and there's been a lot of music by living composers and gradually that was part of the process of getting the audience really to trust me.

You know, I am just a musician and I have no idea these days what good and bad is in terms of labels.

The state of radio is not great. It's like playing the lottery. The chances of hitting are mind boggling slim.

Producers want to put their music behind revivals but I don't think that's a good trend for the theater at all.

The first thing you learn about the music business is that it changes very quickly. You come into it at a certain point and you think you have a handle on it... And then, three years later, the whole thing has been turned upside-down.

My father would make record after record, and he'd be so surprised at what would sell and what wouldn't.

The music business is the most childish business in the world. Nobody knows what they're selling or why, but they sell it if it works.

If I had posted my first video a week later, I don't know if it would have spread like it did. That's why, with everything I do, I try to enjoy the making of it instead of worrying about the release and reception.

I got tired of everybody repeating the same phrases in the hip-hop world.

Music industry is a very competitive field, and one has to continuously entertain and excite the audience, which is a difficult task.

When 'American Slang' came out, everyone was like, 'This is the next big band in the world, and this is blah blah blah Bruce Springsteen Junior and blah blah blah,' and I was just like, 'I don't know what that means. I don't know. We'll see.'

You can put your music out on YouTube and get messages from all over the world.

That's one thing the musicians don't remember: you don't choose your demographic - they choose you.

We're making the music that the people are asking us for.

Most companies that are successful listen to people and see what they want and they make that. So when I used to make songs, I'd make mixtapes. The public would tell me what they like and then I would make songs based on what they like. That's how I knew 'Ridin' Dirty' was going to be big - they told me they liked this kind of music.

After the Jonas Brothers, I was like, 'What is next?'

I get to travel the world in front of thousands of people and get paid for it. It's pretty awesome.

I've learned that things change. The whole boy band thing almost turned into a stock market crash.