I feel very lucky to get to fly the flag of RCA Records and Sony Music.
It's not about what hits Billboard or how many views you got on a video. It's about copies sold. It's about streams, you know?
Pantera is a marquee band, with the most diehard fans. We sold over 20 million records without MTV or radio.
I even have nephews who make music, my daughter makes music. I don't know what advice to give them these days. It's really a tough industry to break into.
The desire to hit a big home run is dominating the music business.
If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over.
I truly believe, as an institution, most major labels should just die.
I want more people to know who I am and I want to have the chance to tease my music a bit more.
I think 'Interscope' always puts the artist first, and they're focusing on these artists' development. I felt like that was a part of my career that I kind of needed to focus on after having come from the radio and getting exposure that way. I wanted to grow my brand and grow my fanbase, and they have proven to be the best fit for that.
The subscription model of buying music is bankrupt. I think you could make available the Second Coming in a subscription model and it might not be successful.
When I was signed, that was before the punk thing even happened.
Leona Lewis made some really nice albums.
Good bands won't get famous anymore unless they get really lucky.
I remember when I first came out as an artist, back in 2004 or 2005, the record label used to take me to all the radio stations and just have me sit in, like, their lunchroom or their conference room, and play for the whole staff. Just to introduce them to me so they would play my records.
Chance The Rapper makes some of the greatest music out, and he build his brand up organically, and the fans have reacted to it.
I can still make a living with touring. And maybe you buy a t-shirt. And I would rather 10 million people get my record and listen to it for free than 500,000 that I coerced to pay $15 for it, you know?
One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, 'Wait - you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it?'
Once you put songs out, they're not yours anymore. They're everyone else's.
I'm a good music provider, and I'm fine with that. I'm a quality music manufacturer.
There's no problem with fans and bands. There's a problem with the economics of the outside disruption of the industry.
People put mixtapes out every few months, every year. They come often. Not 'Mood Muzik.' It's a totally different type of monster. And when you hear it, you should be able to understand why.
I've only had one platinum album, and it's 'Red River Blue'.
I have been working and composing music since 1986. Over the years, I have seen our music industry go through all kinds of transformation.
I have had the good fortune to experience both the limelight and the traffic light as a musician. I did my first recording on my own and it was available at concerts. The second to seventh were released on small and then large labels. My eighth to 14th were done under my own steam once again, but with the benefit of the Internet.
I always thought that if record companies didn't understand me, fine - I'd go and do it by myself.
