David Byrne Quotes

What's been missing from digital music sales has been the possibility of added depth. In a printed package one can only include so many images and so much text - for example - but digitally it's wide open. For the most part at the moment we get less information for slightly less money - though we could be getting a lot more.

We see ourselves as the world's digital library. That can be a lot more than books. We do want to expand to other types of content: sheet music, magazines, user-generated content.

I definitely love record stores. And worked in many over the years. Having said that, it's not necessarily that I love vinyl per se. I mean, I'm happy to use CDs and MP3s: to me, it's the music that's top priority. I do have a good collection of vinyl, but I rarely actually pull it out.

I'm not sure why anybody makes a physical CD anymore when the costs are so much lower to just throw it up on iTunes. And it doesn't seem that making a hard copy of something prevents pirating any less. I mean I'm amazed that they still do that.

I think that people will always want music; I think that the form that they will get it in, or distributed to them from, and the price they pay for it is what's up in question.

I feel like a Mac store! I have a Canadian iPhone, an American iPhone and an iPad. I'm constantly downloading music to iTunes.

By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variations, we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We've sold tons of them.

I have an iPod, but I do still love CDs. There's something nice and tangible about a CD. I'm a mixture of old and new - I love my sewing machine, but I've also embraced new technology. The iPad is what did it for me - it's extraordinary.

I still love physical product. I still hold out for actual CDs, because in radio, everyone just wants to send you a file to play.

Any time you can give consumers more of what they want, it's a good thing. Unbundling the album is a good thing. In the case of music - because it is content that you can slice into songs - doing that is of huge benefit to consumers.

I think mp3s are great if you are unknown and trying to get started. It's a good way to get your music out and about. But for those who are established, it's not good at all.

I get sick when I think about someone going to iTunes and downloading two songs off our album. It's not meant to be listened to that way.

For the most part, rock fans don't go and buy CDs any more, very rarely. It's pretty much about downloads and streaming.

There's a lot of opportunity for game developers to show value to people, things they want to spend money on. I think offers are just another kind of ads.

People should just buy a CD and rip it. You are legal then.

Our business has changed so much. Do people even want albums, or do they just buy singles now? You sort of feel like you're the last guy manufacturing VCRs... but I really like albums, and so I like doing them. I'll be the last one making them, even when no one's buying them.

Look at music like gaming. You monetize the game to all the people who are most engaged. I wanted to bring that theory and thinking to music.

Music files and downloading have indeed changed the currency of music to a great degree.

Technically speaking, there is no music whatsoever on a CD. Lots of information, but no music.

The rise of the iPod meant that digital music became the norm, It's sad, but you can still find the real stuff out there if you look for it!

Tell me a musician who's got rich off digital sales. Apple's doing pretty good though, right?

Every record store and record chain has folded; they don't exist. They do not exist. And the only two outlets that would still sell CDs were Best Buy and Wal-Mart. They now have stopped selling it. There's nowhere you can go into a store and buy a CD in America. That's how it is.

The first mp3 I downloaded, which I guess was illegal, was a symphonic rendering of the Super Mario Brothers 1-1 theme song. It was great. I was like, 'This is blowing MIDI files out of the water. This is the future, right here.'

Why should we bother making a super high-quality, expensive album if nobody is going to pay for it anyway and will just download it for free as an MP3 that has no depth whatsoever because of the small file size?

I'm always getting sent new stuff, so I have to incorporate digital equipment into my sets, but I try to play vinyl as much as possible. It's just the best-sounding format still. And I've been using vinyl since I started deejaying, for over 15 years, so it also just feels the most natural for me.