I couldn't make a headphone look like a piece of medical equipment or a toy, as most headphones do.
Interscope is run more like a rock band than a record company. It's run in a very spontaneous, heartfelt way.
A chart that weighs some ad-supported streams the same as a pay stream... encourages artists to promote free tiers to have a No. 1 record. That's great for the tech companies, but not for artists.
My relationships are helped because of all the success I've had, but I'm only as useful as the idea I have today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm just a trophy.
You're only as good as your weakest link in the ecosystem of sound, of audio.
The lousy guitar player in any band is the bass player.
When you're making music, you don't look at what's going on in the studio next to you.
Genres are just names.
I knew in my heart that I wasn't cool, but I figured I could at least be cool by association.
The next Prince might just get really good at something else.
If you're looking for a quick hit, that means you're looking for something disposable.
Elvis Presley was the big bang. He was the most influential single figure in the history of American pop culture. He changed the way we looked, thought, dressed, held a guitar. He didn't invent rock & roll, but he defined it in a way that everyone who followed him owes him a debt.
Apple, of all the global tech companies, was the one that understood why artists make things.
Bob Dylan enabled rock & roll to grow up and survive. He injected the power of language and ideas into the music.
Most technology companies are culturally inept. They're never going to get curation right.
I'm not going to be the guy who sold the last CD.
If I were going to teach a course, it would be called Don't Breathe Your Own Exhaust.
Apple was selling $400 iPods with $1 earbuds. They're making a beautiful white object with all the music in the world in it... I'm going to make a beautiful black object that will play it back.
Digital sound is damaging music; it's damaging the artists. It's so degrading.
I like 'The Voice.'
