Martin Shkreli Quotes

I love music and musicians. And seeing great artists dropped from labels was really frustrating and sad to me.

The music business is one of a few places where everything you've heard about it seems entirely cliche, but it's true.

I like Rick Ross as a person. I like Jay-Z and Kanye West as people. But I hate the companies that they record for.

My passion is music, you know, and music influences culture, influences lifestyle, which leads me to 'Roc-A-Wear'. I was forced to be an entrepreneur, so that led me to be CEO of 'Roc-A-Fella' records, which lead to Def Jam.

I just wanted to have my own dynasty. I wanted my own Cash Money or Roc-A-Fella. Outside of that, I also wanted my own media company.

To me, the music industry doesn't exist, it's like the devil, it doesn't exist if you don't believe in it.

Getting a record deal is a meaningless thing now.

As for the music business itself, the key things have not changed that much. It operates like any business and money still keeps things moving.

This is a very screwed-up business. Record labels don't sign a lot of bands these days. We just want to find a home and stay there and make records and do our thing and not have to look over our shoulder.

It's not like it used to be where everybody has a record company to belong to.

That's my favorite subject because it really levels the playing field for artists these days. You don't have to sell out to the record company. You don't have to get a five hundred thousand dollars, or whatever, and pay them back for the rest of your life to record a record.

You think publishing is tough but the music world is ten times tougher.

Doing things in my day was simple: you either signed to a big label or you signed to a very small label, and you worked with that one, and then they eventually signed you on to a big one.

I think that's the problem in a lot of music. We've got these record labels.

'Vinyl' is a good look at the music industry. The script was honest.

The problem that I have is with the music business. For some reason it seems almost impossible to get anything, any music, released which includes improvisation or soloing.

Island Records was the first record label to... acknowledge me. After that, quickly, Republic Records, and then Atlantic Records, Sony Records and Warner Bros. It was all the labels at once. It was absolutely insane, like, knowing that this many record labels were interested in me.

If it wasn't for the TLC story, many artists would not have smartened up, and you wouldn't have the Lil Waynes and people with their own labels.

I know being on a major label is meant to be antiquated, but we're fine with it.

I remember talking with Arcade Fire after their first record, when they were getting all kinds of offers from major labels, and I don't think I gave them any advice. They survived that whole onslaught pretty well anyway without me.

The Shades never recorded anything, Little Daddy and the Bachelors recorded a couple of records, ya.

But anyone who knows anything about the music industry knows it's not only about the music.

I think we in the Alpha Band, which was a strange group anyway, weren't dealing with any of these issues. They sneaked up on us and took us over, before we know what was going on.

The music industry is a strange combination of having real and intangible assets: pop bands are brand names in themselves, and at a given stage in their careers their name alone can practically gaurantee hit records.

I still don't understand the music industry that much. Everything I learned was from hanging out with rock musicians in studios. I certainly have respect for those who make music their livelihood.