Garth Brooks Quotes

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

Most artists have contracts directly with the record company, and when they do music, all of their music is owned by the record company. But I did mine through a production company.

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.

I've copyrighted 3,000 songs.

If somebody makes a record, no matter how many years later it's released, they or their families should be entitled to the proceeds.

I can do anything onstage. Here's the misconception: You could record an album called 'The Best of Styx.' And all you would have to do is pay the individual songwriters a mechanical royalty.

I was worried Microsoft would take my music. But ultimately I talked to the lawyers and I still own it.

If you want to play somebody's music, you'd better go into his house.

I'm singing the music publisher's theme song - it ain't a commercial.

I spend all my time right now trying to combat music retail and copyright.

The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, these are just some of the people who threatened to sue if we used their songs.

I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems strange.

Putting out compilation records, buying the right to music is incredibly complicated. You have to find the writer of the song and the publisher of the song - not the singer - and make two separate deals.

As long as you have a percentage of a song, that lasts forever. You have to study the business. Don't just be in it for money. You have to understand what you're in it for, then get your money.

Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple in copyright law, and when it comes to music copyright, it's especially convoluted.

I'll go to the movies and hear 'Angel From Montgomery' in some film, and nobody ever even told me about it. They don't tell you your stuff is going to be in a movie. They don't have to, so they don't tell you. You get paid eventually.

Because I don't believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.

When people who are songwriters say 'That's my property and if you give it away for free then I'll lose my incentive,' then, well, good riddance.

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

One of the reasons I started Tzadik, which is my own label, is to keep things in print. I got tired of labels dropping things out of print when they don't sell.

The Industry's at war. I think it's about control. You can make all of the financial arguments that the industry has been shooting itself in the foot, but it is an industry built on a foundation of ownership and exploitation of intellectual property rights.

Mostly I've never let record companies become involved with my music, which was a very smart thing that my first manager Dave Robinson did, to keep them out of it.

I would never put my songs in a commercial.

There's definitely some sort of dissent brewing between labels, publishing companies and artists. A lot of it has to do with older licensing schemes.

Well, I think that it is complicated in that the first four albums were all with Universal so they have the rights to that and therefore it is a lot easier for them to do that period.