John Sandford Quotes

A lot of what's happened with my career has been because of the Internet. It's a way for me to reach fans directly, especially with music.

At first, I didn't focus that much on the Internet. I was more, 'I'm going to write songs,' and I'd have sung that song out in a club, pub, or a jam session or whatever 10 times before I recorded it. We live in an Internet age, and if you don't embrace it, you get left behind a bit.

As much as people are griping about the Internet taking sales away from artists, it's been a huge promotional tool for me.

The new artist is meeting the general public before they meet the record company. They're able to put the material on YouTube and have a million views before they even meet an executive at a record company, and get the deal based on that.

YouTube provides a unique opportunity for all musicians to market and promote their music and directly engage their fans.

I could always play the drums, so I have some musical talent, but I don't live in Atlanta or LA, so I can't just randomly bump into major artists. So instead, I started building my fan base and my name by networking through the internet. Mostly through Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.

I think it's much harder now with the Internet to hone anything. It's easy to share things: you do one track, and it goes on Hype Machine; people are being exposed a lot earlier.

The internet has been incredible in regards to the selling of my CD. I don't know how it's affected or will affect my acting career.

The thing that got me started on Twitter was just basically pressure from management and the record company saying, 'Hey, this is what all the other artists are doing. You need to be doing it also.' I didn't really have a clue what is was.

It's so different now coming out as a new artist today than it was when I came out almost ten years ago. Now, it's all about singles, it's really quick, it's online. I came out when people sold records and they still do today but - I don't know what the key is.

My whole career began because I was always putting my music on the Internet. By the time I had my first tour, I had an audience everywhere I went, because people were listening online.

I sort of came out at the dawn of the Internet in the mid-90s and I think it helped break my career. I think I was one of the first artists to really benefit from the grassroots swell that can happen online. I don't know if I would have broken out without it.

My whole career began because I was always putting my music on the Internet. By the time I had my first tour, I had an audience everywhere I went, because people were listening online. I started with a website, Jasonmraz.com, pre-YouTube. You could e-mail me directly, and I would send you a CD.

If you want to put out a song that you wrote yesterday, tomorrow go on Twitter, type in a new URL, and give it to the people!

Traditionally, tours were a means of promoting a record. Today, the record promotes the tour.

Anyone who's an executive at a record label does not understand what the Internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact - no idea. I'm surprised they know how to use e-mail.

I was part of the generation that pushed the Internet. In fact, I broke as an artist in the U.S.A. because of the Internet.

A platform is the base from which something big happens. In our case, we're an entertainment platform in the sense that there are people signing up like MTV, Burberry, folks like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. And why? Because it's their channel to control their entertainment to their fans.

I'll tell you who doesn't get enough credit, Soulja Boy. He was the first one to do something, post it, yank it down, and sell more records because of it.

Now, to be a mainstream act, you have to be firing on all cylinders on so many different platforms. You've got to have a social media voice. You've got to do promo on TV. You've got to tour everywhere.

While working for Diplomat Records, I helped several artists with their online branding and social media. Once I left the label, I worked directly with artists and noticed many artists were overlooked and underrated if they weren't in 'XXL' or 'The Source.'

You can put your music out on YouTube and get messages from all over the world.

Whatever the download thing has done to the game, you as an artist can get yourself out there to the masses, off your own back.

Everyone should still want to put their music out because it's important that people still think that you are still willing to come to them. When you're dealing with the Internet, it's a 'come to me' situation. But when people see you out-and-about, promoting your merch and in the club, people enjoy that, too.

That's what I love about the Internet - instead of having to wait on radio to play your song or TV to play your video, I can use the Internet as a tool to get my music out earlier.