Artist Management Quotes

I had to put me foot down with the first record company. It was about 1975, when singers were being given names like Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust, so they wanted to call me Benny Santini just because me dad's an Irish-Italian with an ice-cream business!

It's not an uncommon event for artists and labels to part ways - Patty Loveless, Vince Gill both did - and it often happens for the better.

I have been with the record company and Tommy was there doing records with other people.

Knowing record labels and knowing the kinds of things they would object to-they just object to everything that's interesting.

I was never officially signed with Akon, but it was a shopping deal. That was around the time he was going through some problems with his label at Interscope. I waited, but when a deal didn't happen, I just went out on my own.

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.

I remember telling the head of Warner Brothers that if they'd just make a video for 'Ol' Red'... and if it didn't work, they could drop me from the label.

Every day, I have new ideas. It makes my brain tired, so I spend time taking care of company quality, finding new artists, and taking care of the young artists.

I was honored I was signed to Sony. But later I felt like they weren't the right team.

I'm signed to Atlantic through 300 Entertainment [Lyor Cohen's label]. That is my only contractual relationship.

As an artist development platform, we've proven that all the work done behind the scenes at American Idol, along with surviving the rigors of the intense live shows, can properly prepare a winner for a real-world music career opportunity.

We've been lucky. Even as a young, local-level band, we were able to rise out of the local scene without having any debt, without having signed the wrong deal with the wrong manager or the wrong booker or a small label.

The music business is a place where the artists are all treated like we're working for the people who are working for us. That can obviously be exaggerated when you're a female.

Western record companies haven't always dealt with African musicians in the best way. Giving them a lot of money and telling them they're going to be bigger than Phil Collins is the wrong way to do it!

History's most treasured musicians were believed in and cultivated to reach their potential. Today, it would be difficult for those musicians to get deals. We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring to fruition the dormant talent that our artists possess.

For us, being a label, we took out the whole aspect of the business that goes into sifting through people who don't care, who don't get what you're trying to do. We can just hire and work with people who get it - the people who understand what this project is about. When you're on a label, you're just hoping somebody will stick their neck out and work for you. Most bands are just like, "I hope they do it. I hope they promote it." But being a label, we know exactly what's happening.

At a major label you can start to feel that you're working for them, and that any work you do, you're never going to see any benefit.

When I was a young actor, I just didn’t understand how to function in this business as an artist. It is a business, it’s called the film business for a reason, there’s money involved ... But on the flip side, now I do not let the business side of it rule either. It’s a balance.

As soon as you start making a record, things start getting lined up: the promotion, possibly even a tour.

I'm an artist, and I go in the studio and make my music. And then I'll give it to my dad and he does what he does. And he does, you know, the press, and figuring out shows and whatnot. When it comes to my artistic freedom, he doesn't, like, step on my toes or anything.

Record labels today are much less patient: Artists have a bad record, and they're gone.

Warner Bros. never really got behind the solo work. They always kind of drew a blank. I think they always were thinking, 'Well, this is nice, but let's get back to what's really important.'

I walked away from the Jive Records situation, but I still have a great relationship with a lot of the workers and a lot of people who were in that system that have moved on to other places. I felt like being there; it totally wasn't understood what the Raheem DeVaughn movement was about.

Eventually I will own my own company and will provide advice to athletes and artists from the entertainment industry.