Artist Strategy Quotes

I knew it straight away when Twitter first came around, and also Facebook, where it was so easy to post, that this was another way to speak directly with people listening to my music. If they found my music and they like it, most likely they want to hear more from me and hear what I'm about. I've put an enormous amount of time into that and it's played out well for me.

In a way, the traditional album is no longer as important as it used to be. But at the same time, I don't want to be the kind of artist who just releases one song after another.

I think that's what most of us rappers do too often. We put too much information in some of our albums that could actually be on the next ones.

Collaborating on 'Tusa' with Nicki Minaj came into my life unexpectedly and I wanted to keep it like that for my fans.

I don't do CDs. I only do radio. That's the truth.

I'm just, 'Hi, I'm Shamir. I'm gonna sing, hug you, then you can buy my album.'

Don't spam your music to people... let the people around you share it.

I actually have heard of acts who only do their new album, and don't do their hits. I've never been in that mind set.

My career is based on the slow build of an audience based on putting on a good show live and putting out a record every couple of years. I was already doing really well in terms of my goals, to keep my fans coming back.

I sign up whatever live shows I get simply because every gig is a chance to reach out directly to the audience. When it comes to gigs, I try mixing personal picks with what the audience demands.

One problem with a lot of musicians is that they remove themselves in a studio and make a record and assume people are going to pay attention to it just because they've made it.

I know a lot of people who jumped into a record label right away, dropped an album, and then nothing happened for them. Build your fan base first, and follow your gut.

All the song choices that we've picked are unique in their own right. They're fun, and it's really just to engage our fans.

I never understood the hit-single, quick-success, get-airplay mentality.

I'm free to do what I please, I'm probably not going to do albums. Just because I think releasing tracks as singles is a better way for me to stay topical.

I need to know how many records I've sold, how many album equivalents from streaming, which territories are playing my music more than others, because it helps me in conversations about where we're gonna be playing shows or where I might open a retail location, like a pop-up store or something.

People in the music business say don't make too many records because they'll compete against one another.

Other artists, they write 13 songs, and hopefully one or two of them are successful singles. And the other 11, for the most part, are filler.

Over the years, I've been trying to build a relationship with an audience. I've tried to maintain as much of a low profile as I could so that those characters would emerge and their relationship with audiences would be protected.

I'm just going to put out three or four releases a year and make it so that if you like the Desert Sessions, then you'll definitely like everything else.

My music is definitely considered the kind of music you play in your car, that gets you from Point A to Point B. So, I understand how important it is to press up my music and give it out, hand-to-hand, just as much as it is to give it out on the Internet.

I don't plan tours necessarily around records. I know that's what most people do.

I base my track-listing and what songs I pick by what my fans expect from me and what they want and what I think they want.

The way I do that is to keep coming up with good songs and when I do a concert, I make sure I give a good performance. It's not rocket science.

I'm 34 now, I like to say 35 because it makes me look better for my age, and I have to keep a little bit of a profile so that every three years if I do put a record out, I don't have to substantiate where I've been for three years and why the silence and the sort of false mysterioso.