John Gourley Quotes

I think that, in a digital age, album covers are becoming a lost art.

I hope my music sets up the platform for me to be able to do lots of things - to have a cowboy-boot line, maybe, or do a perfume or makeup deal.

Music videos, to me, are like an extension of a song.

I just want to get my music out and make sure that it's heard in the right way.

I enjoy being involved in making the artwork for albums and stupid stuff like that.

Videos have to go hand in hand with your music, so that's why, ultimately, they should be created by the artist. And if they're not, it doesn't really add up to me.

Nowadays, with the state of the music business, for any artist, whether you're up-and-coming or you've been in it for awhile, you have to explore different revenues and different ways of expressing yourself.

With Lady Gaga I really stretched myself as a creative director, and because I was with this artist from before she got signed I was able to really take control of the opportunity and execute as a creative director.

The success of Watermark surprised me. I never thought of music as something commercial; it was something very personal to me.

Some of my favourite record and album covers and stuff have all been the singer, and they create a character, and they dress up a little bit.

A music video is so different to doing a movie.

Even with G.O.O.D. Music, we have artists that have done very well, and we've had artists that haven't. Being attached to Kanye is only going to get you so far. You've still got to have the records and the talent and the artistry on your own to carry it.

When I first started, I wasn't really aware of anything in the industry or aware of who I really was. I just put my music out there and tried to get as many people to hear it as possible. I hadn't really thought about the kind of music I wanted to make.

I don't want to be an artist; I don't really want to sing - though I do sing on a few songs. But I want to be the guy that presents new music from both new artists and established artists at the same time.

2018 was an amazing year for me, and music has changed so much: the way you can release it and the ways you can create art around it, the videos, the ways fans can interact, tour in new places.

The bloody nose was the album cover for my first album, but it's since become my logo.

I've always been a fan of album covers with no writing on them and have used them a lot in my own groups.

Because we are Nashville-based and predominately a country label, people obviously think of us in that way, and that's fine.

There were a few labels scouting me, but I felt like G.O.O.D. had my best interest at heart. They gave me the freedom to really do what I want, which is to expand my brand, make great music, and find ways to elevate my sound.

There's no right or wrong way to do things and I think a lot of the SoundCloud rappers with their DIY music are proving that to be true.

I want to make music that people will hear.

'7 Years' is, you could say, a song that eats its own children. That we need to get past the song and get to the person and get to the record and get to the music so we can keep releasing.

Def Jam just made deals with me. They wouldn't let me go because they didn't really have that much street cred. So they kept me around.

With streaming, everything is focused on singles. That means an artist's depth doesn't have the chance to shine through.

I understand that, because there are so many musicians, you have to make artists into brands, but I sometimes feel like I have to be some kind of non-human icon in order for people to listen to my music.