Ben Lovett Quotes

I don't need to sell tons of records, but I want longevity. I want to make music for the rest of my life.

Our band Stereophonics never wanted to release a couple records and be the biggest band in the world for 10 minutes. We always wanted to stand the test of time, and make great music that people would want to listen to and that music lasts. We'd looked up to artists and bands that had big back catalogues.

A lot of things people see as innovative are faddish and fleeting, and I'm simply telling you, staying power like broadcasting has is more important in the end than the latest app you can download.

In the entertainment business, the biggest gift you could ever get is not an Oscar, it's not a Grammy, it's longevity.

For me, it's not about quick grabs and quick sales; it's about having a sound that will last and sustain.

People think because I've got some success, I've made it, but in my eyes it's like, 'How long has Jay Z been in the business? How many albums has he got?' Not that I'm trying to be Jay Z, but I am trying to be around for a long time.

Effortlessly, I feel like my records have longevity.

I want to be somebody, a person, first that people remember, but also, I want music that I release to still be around. I don't want it to just be cool for a second and be gone.

We were interested in making a long career out of this, rather than being 'Canada's Newest Hitmakers.' It seems to work, and it trickles down to every aspect of the band.

I'd love to have a lifetime career. If you look at people like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, people who have been there forever and who still make relevant music that people want to listen to - that would be amazing. I hope to be able to do that. But above all else, I feel like I just want to be happy.

I think longevity is more important than trying to make people realize you're around every second.

Nobody gets into a band and thinks they're going to have a 30-year career.

It'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?'

I don't think that bands that make it on their first album are as strong as bands that don't: there is nowhere to go but down.

Winning is fun and great, but I would rather have a long, successful and healthy career than a short one with a few wins.

Everyone is trying to make these huge songs; I just make things that I want to listen to. Music that I will be comfortable listening to 10 years from now, that's my only thing.

Really, we don't know what to make of it except that we're delighted about it. We have all these fans thirty years later and they're still around and will probably be around for a long time to come.

When you start your first band and it has an impact on the rest of the world you go through a lot with those guys and you become very protective of that legacy.

The danger is in pleasing an immediate public: the immediate public that comes around you and takes you in and accepts you and gives you success and everything. Instead of that, you should wait for fifty years or a hundred years for your true public. That is the only public that interests me.

My aspirations aren't to sell millions of records, but to write really good songs.

I don't want to be a one-hit wonder.

But I think it's important that things endure.

I want in 40 years to still be acting and to more than anything have longevity and not just be this huge flash in the pan and then disappear.

With some artists, I've noticed that after their songs have been licensed, on their next album you can totally hear they're trying to write a song for 'Grey's Anatomy' and it doesn't work. It's just one of those things that has to feel genuine to last a long time.

I've been around for such a long time. My first hit record was over 20 years ago and the people who bought my records then are married now and they probably still play these records and their children like them.