David Byrne Quotes

Rock and roll music - people want records. For me, it's the whole thing - the package. I don't get satisfaction from buying an MP3.

I think it's a reflection of the music business in general, which to me seems very fragmented.

The biggest problem is always getting hits. That's the one thing that has never changed. The way of delivering music has changed, the way of listening to it has changed, the way of distributing it has changed, but it's always the music.

The whole format of entertainment that I did seems to be fading away. The music business of today is completely different when you see the videos and the music.

Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.

When I say I don't have to write pop songs anymore, there's no way I'm going to get on the radio at 60 years of age unless I'm doing a duet with Gaga or I was on 'All of the Lights,' which was a Kanye West record that managed to get on the radio.

As long as someone wants to hear my music, I don't care if it's a ringtone or the album or whatever.

The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.

When it comes to music, we live in a very different world than everyone did in the 1960s and 1970s.

The history of the music industry is inevitably also the story of the development of technology. From the player piano to the vinyl disc, from reel-to-reel tape to the cassette, from the CD to the digital download, these formats and devices changed not only the way music was consumed, but the very way artists created it.

I think times have changed, and there's no dearth of talent in the music industry.

The music industry is so cool because it's constantly changing.

The most important single fact about pop music in the Nineties, is the number of hours made commercially available increased by an estimated factor of ten.

It's such a changing industry, and I realize that it's become more digital- and singles-driven, but I still love listening to a full record. It's the artist's story captured in 12 or 15 songs.

Commercial music, for the most part, is popular music and you always have to keep that in mind.

We have to make the physical music a little more valuable instead of just having a download link and a bunch of songs you downloaded from some torrent site. People try to make the music value-less, and I don't think we're going to stop that train, but the one thing that they can't devalue are things that are in the outside world.

I have very much enjoyed being in the music business in different roles through five different decades.

Recorded music is more a marketing tool than a revenue source.

Music is my number one, it's my life, it's my everything. I'm enjoying challenging myself; I want to raise the bar and set a new standard for Australian pop artists.

I grew up in the era of the concept album. What I do now is pick up on singles, and they are their own complete stories; you don't necessarily have to hear the rest of the album because I don't think albums are created like that anymore. They get songs from all over the place.

The only thing that exists to me is commercial pop music.

I don't think piracy is going to kill the music industry. But digital technology and the ability to download will change the packaging from CDs to a single-based business.

Sheet music, recording, radio, television, cassettes, CD burners, and file sharing have all invalidated, to some extent, the old model of making a living making music.

Music, in the past few years... anything singable or understandable is square.

I was never in the business of trying to put my name out there - I was really focused on music and records and being in the studio.