Steve Albini Quotes

Well I know I was contracted to Polydor so they couldn't use my name.

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

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.

Record companies, I found out, can put out compilations without your permission.

I was initially signed to a German label a few years ago.

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.

Our first manager really pushed that we not sell our publishing rights, which is one of the earliest things an artist will do: They'll sell in order to get a cash advance.

Once you're signed to a label you compromise.

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.'

There's this thing called compulsory licensing law that allows artists through the record companies to take your music at will without your permission.

I don't get involved in record label politics.

We'll look at a bunch of deals that are being offered to us, and we decide where to go and continue on I guess. It's not too early to start considering our options with other labels.

Technically, at this point we're no longer with the label; we've fulfilled our contract.

Every time I release an album my old record company releases another one.

If you have good songs and a real desire to make music, the next thing to do, instead of approach record companies, is to get yourself a really good manager because then it allows you to focus on your profession of being a musician. Then they can focus on the darker art of the record label and the music industry.

I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

We're giving RCA another record, and that should finish them.

When I approach a band, I want to respect them and be respectful of their music. I'm not gonna say, 'Look, you guys are real hot, so we'll stick you in the movie, and we'll get it in all these stores and all these stations.' That isn't right.

I sold my life to Capitol Records; it sucks.

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.

I will never sign to a major record label again. If, by some mega fluke, a record of mine looked like it might break big, I'd try and do it via an indie or somehow license it. I'm not having my music owned by those corporate bastards again.

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 don't see myself ever being in a position where I need to sign to a label.

I was honored I was signed to Sony. But later I felt like they weren't the right team.

Someone who signs a contract must respect it.