I’ve made money, and I’ve been ripped off. I’ve had creative freedom, and I’ve been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.
David ByrneI’ve made over 25 studio albums, and I think probably I’ve made two real stinkers in my time, and some not-bad albums, and some really good albums. I’m proud of what I’ve done. In fact it’s been a good ride.
David BowieI actually met The Game in my hood on Crenshaw and Slauson. I was outside on the block with 20 of my homies. I see the Range Rover, and we all walked up to his car. I handed him my CD.
Nipsey HussleNo rapper in the world from Jay-Z to Tupac to Biggie has 100 percent love on everything they do.
J. ColeThere was a time Michael Jackson couldn’t get his video on MTV because he was considered to be ‚urban.‘ The Michael Jackson. So I literally have to be the Michael Jackson of apparel in order to break down the doors for everyone who will come after I’m gone, after I’m dead.
Kanye WestWe was able to become real successful in the mixtape space.
Nipsey HussleI knew the second I finished the first record – ‚House Of Balloons‘ – and had all this material leftover that a trilogy would be best.
The WeekndProducing all my own songs and refusing to go to the hot producer. That’s the biggest risk I’ve taken so far.
J. ColeRock stars are good at making noise.
BonoI spend just as much time on how people hear my music as I do the actual music, no matter how long it takes. I’m such a visual artist as well that it always goes hand-in-hand.
The WeekndI think, generally, I just cannot really envision life without writing and producing records and singing.
David BowieI put out tapes, but I always kept saying, ‚Why am I putting all this energy into these tapes?‘ I was like, ‚I’d rather make just an album because I have a vision; I know how I want to do my records.‘ I always felt like an artist as well.
DJ KhaledIf I could, I would not do anything else. I’d just be in the studio for my whole life. I would never go to parties, events, and red carpets. I would rather just be in the studio for the whole time. I don’t even care. Nobody has to know what I look like. I just want to make music.
Ariana GrandeStreaming is a really big market for me. We’ve been doing great in the streaming market, so it’s not something I want to alienate at all. Streaming counts now. They’re treating artists the way we deserve to be treated.
RihannaThere’s something missing in the music industry today… and it’s music. Songs you hear don’t last, it’s just product fed to you by the industry.
Jimmy BuffettEven before Snapchat, you go back into my career from Day One or interview people that knew me for 25 years, they’re going to tell you I’ve been DJ Khaled my whole life.
DJ KhaledIn pop music, the public usually see the results – the hit records, the Grammy Awards performances, the concert tours – but not all the work that goes into getting into the spotlight. And not everyone realizes that, even if you have a lot of talent, chances are you won’t make it.
Bruno MarsThat little Miley Cyrus… she’s like a little Elvis. The kids love her because she’s Hannah Montana, but what people don’t realize about her is she is such a fantastic singer and songwriter. She writes songs like she’s 40 years old!
Dolly PartonI probably could have toured off ‚Trilogy‘ for the rest of my life. It definitely changed the culture. No one can do a trilogy again without thanking The Weeknd.
The WeekndWhen I’m making music, I can hear all the parts, all the instruments. I can hear what it should be.
Lady GagaApple has given me a platform to spread music. They’re giving us Latinos a chance to shine.
Bad BunnyIt’s easy to make an album full of great songs. But I want people to go for the ride. The songs have to make sense together.
RihannaBy the mid-’60s, recorded music was much more like painting than it was like traditional music. When you went into the studio, you could put a sound down, then you could squeeze it around, spread it all around the canvas.
Brian EnoI think Ye is important to hip-hop.
Nipsey HussleWhen I started making my own records, I had this idea of drowning out the singer and putting the rest in the foreground. It was the background that interested me.
Brian EnoIn hip-hop, there’s not a lot of love. There’s not a lot of love being spread. It’s always like ‚I’m stuntin‘ on you raps, or I’m better than you raps.‘ It’s not a lot of ‚Yo man, I idolize you raps.‘
J. ColeThe 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.
Richard BransonNearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.
David BowieAll I do is make music.
The WeekndI think country music is popular – has been popular and will always be popular because I think a lot of real people singing about a lot of real stuff about real people. And it’s simple enough for people to understand it. And we kind of roll with the punches.
Dolly PartonIn my view, the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience.
BonoMichael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much going on in music right now and somebody has to make a difference.
Kanye WestA lot of people ask me, ‚How did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry?‘ It’s because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they’re gonna say no to you, at least they’re gonna be polite about it.
Taylor SwiftMy best country record only sold 200,000 copies.
Dolly PartonI enjoy working with complicated equipment. A lot of my things started just with a rhythm box, but I feed it through so many things that what comes out sounds very complex and rich.
Brian EnoThe effect of music on fashion has been immense, especially hip-hop and urban music.
The WeekndI’m just changing the game because I know what the fans want and the people want ‚cause I’m a fan of hip-hop.
DJ KhaledThe whole history of pop music had rested on the first person singular, with occasional intrusions of the second person singular.
Brian EnoI want to make pop cool again, and the only way I can do that is by being ambitious and grand.
The WeekndNow I realize that from ’72 through to about ’76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.
David BowiePartnering with Atlantic Records creates the opportunity to take what we’re doing to the next level, without compromising.
Nipsey HussleIf I tried to make a commercial album, it would be a complete flop. I have no idea what the world at large likes.
Brian EnoThe stores and the things like that, the business side of things came out at the point when, I’d say probably in the early ’70s, it looked like the year of the singer-songwriter was over, ‚cause music changed in our time and the spotlight was out.
Jimmy BuffettI’ve noticed that when I am selling a lot of records, certain things become easier. I’m not talking about getting a table in a restaurant.
David ByrneAs hard as it is, as ghetto as it is, hip-hop is pop music. It’s the sound of music getting out of the ghetto, while rock is looking for a ghetto.
BonoOne of my most popular songs, ‚Satellites,‘ I paid $300 for that beat on SoundClick.
Kevin GatesWhat turns me on about the digital age, what excited me personally, is that you have closed the gap between dreaming and doing. You see, it used to be that if you wanted to make a record of a song, you needed a studio and a producer. Now, you need a laptop.
BonoI could care less about the particular. I like to make music.
Kevin GatesIt’s much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won’t keep you relevant. Tricks might keep you popular for a while, but in all honesty, I don’t know how U2 will stay relevant. I know we’ve got a future. I know we can fill stadiums. And yet with every record, I think, ‚Is this it? Are we still relevant?‘
BonoI’m a studio rat.
The WeekndI want to produce the music to a movie that I’m working on, like what Prince did with ‚Purple Rain.‘
The WeekndI wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.
Beyonce KnowlesI’m not going to do anything crazy, but I want to do music that I’m passionate about. I’m finally at an age where I can do the music that I grew up loving, which was urban pop, ’90s music. I grew up listening to the divas, so I’m very happy to finally do urban pop. I hope that it’s received well, and it has been so far.
Ariana GrandeI just think that VR and AR are going to be a really big deal.
Mark ZuckerbergEven though I’m known as a pop musician, I have a seriousness about what I do.
Brian EnoThe closest I ever came to getting married was just before I started singing. In fact, my first record saved my neck.
Elvis PresleyI’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‚Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us.‘
Bruno MarsI think generally playing live is a crap idea. So much of stage work is the presentation of personality, and I’ve never been interested in that.
Brian EnoI grew up writing songs in my room on GarageBand, and I would make the beats just out of layering my vocals over and over again. Very Imogen Heap-inspired.
Ariana GrandeCardi B put a lot of work in.
Nipsey Hussle