Roger McGuinn Quotes

Well, I had a record deal since I was 18, and it got me where I am.

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 would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't tell you that at one time in my life I thought the way that you made music was you got on a major label and you got famous.

It's like half the campaign of selling a record is trying to convince people that you're an artist. Well, I am an artist. This is what I do.

I'm pushing ahead on my own - you no longer need a large record company to make you a star.

We went into that knowing that we were never going to sell a major record 'cause we didn't sound like these bands, so I just thought this was an opportunity for us to make the kind of records that we wanted and make some money at the same time.

I've toured the U.S. every single year and I've put a record out every single year whether it was on a major label or not; that doesn't make any difference to me.

I don't think the label makes the artist or the artist makes the label. It's the music that makes everything work or not.

By the age of 17, for me, we had got an recording contract, and, boom, I was gone.

When I got my deal with Cash Money, it changed my whole life.

I'm not desperate to sign, like, a record deal. I'm very hungry, but I'm just not desperate for it.

There's a lot of creativity in the industry, but I don't necessarily think that the most creative DJs or producers are always the biggest ones.

I really didn't think I was going to make records to where I make a living out of it.

I'm a pretty successful songwriter and known in some circles, but I didn't think the story of my career was of any real entertainment value.

In my opinion, you just have to make the music. Make the music and work as hard as you can to get it out there.

I'm just an artist that makes good music and has a good idea to make money off of that.

I had to work a lot. I was doing YouTube videos, but I wasn't getting a lot of love. How do I make a living off rapping when no one knows me? I got kind of discouraged. But hard work shuts people up.

I'm not trying to rub shoulders with any record executives. If rubbing shoulders in the industry is what I wanted to do then I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.

I always thought that if record companies didn't understand me, fine - I'd go and do it by myself.

You know, I didn't have enough money to quit my day job... the myth of the major label deal. Nowadays, you have a tour bus and a stylist and all this stuff. But back then, no way.

I think it's all about the people who listen to your music, and loving playing and writing. Once you've got those two, and they're your main two priorities, then radio and TV and all the other stuff that comes with it will come. But that's not the be-all end-all.

People are always coming up to me, thinking I've got some magic wand that can make them a star and I want to tell them that no one can do that. Making hit records is not that easy. But it took me time to realize that myself.

We had an EP out and all of a sudden we find record companies are interested in us, and we're thinking, 'Oh, that's really nice, but we don't think we're ready for it.'

I can show bands how to produce themselves. In the same way, many bands think you can't make it without some fat cat in London or New York to manage you. That's just crap. All you need is someone a bit older than you with a bit of business nous whom you trust.

In pop music, the public usually see the results - the hit records, the Grammy Awards performances, the concert tours - but not all the work that goes into getting into the spotlight. And not everyone realizes that, even if you have a lot of talent, chances are you won't make it.