Michael Jackson Quotes

My whole team, it wasn't about putting the album out, it was about getting off the record company and going independent or going to another label. To the point we were like, 'Listen, just take 'Lasers.' You can have whatever percentage off the next ten records I do for the rest of my life. I just do not want to be here anymore.'

I guess I've learned that there's really no such thing as a bad label, there is only a bad contract.

We were not given any statistics as to how many records were pressed on the blue label. I used to ask Bob Shad how we were going to get paid from record sales and what I got for an answer was not to worry about the business end of the deal.

You don't want the biggest record deal as far as money goes, you just want to make sure that the people at the label really support your band and the music and stuff.

So you have to just be really careful and make sure that when a deal comes along, that it's like the right deal for you... not necessarily the most money, because you have to pay the record label that back in like record sales and stuff.

There was a bidding war between Epic Records and Jive - now RCA - which was bittersweet. Just having labels bid over me was really cool, but I ended up going with Jive because it felt better over there, and they have my favorite artists like Usher, Chris Brown, and Justin Timberlake.

I wanted out of my record deal with EMI. They wanted me to record one type of album; I wanted to record the type of music I wanted to make.

Make no mistake about it: once a band has signed a letter of intent, they will either eventually sign a contract that suits the label or they will be destroyed.

If the label presents them with a contract that the band don't want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a position of strength.

You just have to find a lawyer that won't let you sign certain things - and I mean the fine print, because I was gone from Phil Spector and signed with Gamble and Huff in Philadelphia, and Phil bought my record contract back from them.

For new bands, I think a major label is the safest place to be. Independent labels are the ones getting away with murder. A lot of them are hobbyists who rip-off young bands, taking advantage of people who would never get signed to a major.

You sign your life away, basically, when you sign a record deal, and if you have a platinum album, then you go back in and renegotiate.

I had to beg to get out of my contract with Capitol. They wanted me to work with big producers. I wanted to produce my music, and they weren't having that. I'm sure they were happy to let me go. I just didn't want to do what they wanted me to do.

If we meet some people that are in love with NFG that are a major label, then we'll sign with them. If we meet people that are in love with NFG that are an independent label - and they have a plan - well, then we'll sign to them. It's completely up to us.

Being in an industry where money talks, everybody involved in the 'Dare To Dream' project came to a conclusion to sign it to Interscope.

People thought we were crazy for starting a record company. They really thought I was shooting myself in the foot.

When you go pick out my album, the money actually comes to me and my company directly.

It's not an uncommon event for artists and labels to part ways - Patty Loveless, Vince Gill both did - and it often happens for the better.

Publishers and record companies love a broken heart.

I just think that any person who wants music to be their career shouldn't focus on a record label. I have seen friends who sign to a label too early in their career, and they lost control over their music, and their releases were delayed or never put out.

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!'

Roc Nation has an army. I'm happy because this is what I needed. I have the music, but they have the muscle.

I put a song on Soundcloud, and Annie Mac made it record of the week, and a month later, I signed my record deal.

We got very lucky, and we were really honored with how amazing our family is now at Hollywood Records... They believed in us, and they let us make the record we definitely wanted to make. And they let us be the Jonas Brothers.

I'm an independent. I've signed with no label.