Signing Artists Quotes

I signed Jay-Z because he was on fire. I wasn't a genius. The record was great. I put it on The Nutty Professor soundtrack and we signed him.

When we signed Taylor Swift, people said, 'You're signing a 15-year-old female country artist? Good luck!'

I completely understand why labels would be a little bit hesitant to sign somebody coming off of a television show, in their first glance.

I love TV. I love being behind the scenes on a TV show but there's something about, I don't know there's something very special when you've signed an artist and that first record comes in and it's a good record. It is an indescribable feeling.

I have very little interest in the bottom line or signing artists to help make the label profit. That's a lucky, unique position to be in, but it all comes out in the wash.

I want to make sure that I sign dope artists, old and new, just to make sure that we come up with something new and creative.

Every time I meet the CEO of a record label I tell them how they did it in the seventies because they want to know. I tell them, "Sign a hundred people! Throw it against the wall and see which ones stick!" And they frown and say, "Oh, we can't do that!" and they start mumbling about demographics and this and that.

If you have a live reputation and your popularity is proven that way, then you're bound to get signed up because they see all those people buying those tickets and they think some of those people will buy those records, and that's what their business is primarily about.

I came close to signing Elvis Presley. I offered $25,000 for his contract and they asked for $45,000 and I just didn't have the other $20,000. I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.