Music Industry Exploitation Quotes

In my career, people in the record business have been rockin' in the same ol' boat. They all crooks - I'll say it clear and loud - especially the big ones.

Probably the biggest bring-down in my life was being in a pop group and finding out just how much it was like everything it was supposed to be against.

Hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years.

I got me a hit record and I ain't never made a cent from it.

I'll tell you what bothers me. This music business is so crazy. They think everything is a game, or everything is a fad or trend to win. I see people saying, 'My next album is going to be my honest album, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, my deepest secrets, the soundtrack to my life.'

Some artists are told what to like and told definitions of what the music business is. That's a problem. Music is artistry, and you want your music heard, your act known. But artists don't know. They are ignorant the minute they sign a contract.

Record companies would rather you stay dumb, not even think of it as a business, so they can either rip you off or get you out of the way in five years to make way for the new groups.

I'd been watching documentaries about early rock where white artists took 'race records' from blues and soul musicians to achieve mass appeal. I wanted to flip that and do an EP covering only white artists.

Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. Gangsta rap didnt exist.

I'm not really interested in participating in mainstream culture. Participating in the mainstream music business is, to me, like getting involved in a racket. There's no way you can get involved in a racket and not someway be filthied by it.

The record companies really do conspire against the artists. Especially the black artists

When you record for a label, they own that material in perpetuity, meaning that they can release, chose not to release , or repackage it any way they so choose... with or without the permission of the artist.

It's unfortunate that music has become such big business.

It is hard, though, 'cos record labels love to boss you around. I won't let them do that anymore.

The music industry is a vicious business. It chews women up and spits them out.

When people say Jerry Lee Lewis invented rock n' roll, they forget Little Richard. People talk about Elvis Presley and forget he was singing black music. I don't blame Elvis. It was the music business figuring it could make more money from this music if it weren't presented from the original source.

It happens in this business - The Rolling Stones were ripped off, so were the Beatles. George Harrison hardly had anything left in the end.

I got out of the music industry many years ago. I had a charlatan for a producer who I wanted nothing to do with. He's dead now, so I guess I can't beat that horse any more. It left a very bad taste in my mouth, so I just went on about my business doing what I do and not involving myself with record companies, except for distribution.

With Metro Station, there were too many people trying to control us. That's not the thing you should do with an artist, I think.

Unfortunately, in Korea, I feel like some people are just seeing the dollar signs and sending out artists into the foreign markets who aren't fully prepared.

I did a lot of songs that I sold, but then they never came out and I never got paid for it. You learn real fast that the music industry, in the beginning, you're not going to get paid for a while, and then you start getting the accolades.

I think Spotify is honestly just another one of Sean Parker's ways of ripping musicians off.