Welcome to Record Deal Quotes, where the words of industry insiders, musicians, and icons illuminate the intricacies and allure of the music business. Behind every chart-topping hit and groundbreaking album lies a story of negotiation, creativity, and the pursuit of artistic expression. Whether you’re an aspiring artist seeking inspiration or a seasoned veteran navigating the ever-evolving landscape of the music industry, these quotes offer invaluable insights and perspectives.
From the euphoria of signing that first contract to the complexities of renegotiating terms, record deals have long been the subject of fascination and debate. Through the words of those who have experienced the highs and lows firsthand, we delve into the inner workings of an industry where dreams are realized and fortunes made. Join us on a journey through the annals of music history as we explore the profound, poignant, and sometimes provocative sentiments surrounding record deals.
Below, you’ll find a curated collection of quotes spanning generations and genres, each offering a glimpse into the multifaceted world of record deals. Whether you’re seeking wisdom, motivation, or simply a deeper understanding of the music business, these quotes stand as testaments to the enduring power of words in an industry built on creativity and passion. So, feel free to copy, visualize, or adorn these quotes with your own creative flair, and let them serve as beacons of inspiration on your own musical journey.
Nine Inch Nails was born out of Cleveland, Ohio, with me and a friend in a studio working on demos at night. Got a record deal with a small, little label, went on tour in a van, and a couple years later found that somehow we touched a nerve, and that first record resonated with a bunch of people. Trent Reznor
When I lost my first record deal, my wife and kids and I lost – I wouldn’t say friends, but – we lost a lot people around us. They just vanished! They were nowhere to be found. I couldn’t get a break, and I couldn’t get people to even respond to my emails about songs, no matter how good something was. Walker Hayes
I always said, if I got a record deal, I’d want to record the best songs I could, whether I wrote them or not. Cole Swindell
When I first started playing the banjo and miraculously fell into a record deal in Nashville, TN, there was a period when I didn’t go to China. It hurt. Like a pain in my gut… that pain you feel when you know it’s time to connect with your parents or your God or your child or your past or your future… and you don’t do it. Abigail Washburn
I’ve always known, before I had a record deal, that the thing is to go out and put on the show. I’ve been doing that from day one. Flo Rida
What’s interesting is often people think life changes when you have a record deal and you do all kinds of stuff. Obviously your life changes, but nothing changes your life like getting married and having kids. Jamie Cullum
I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning, so I was forced to be like a businessman because when I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own company. Jay-Z
At the end of the day, you sign a record deal and you understand where it could go if you had the right song. Tinie Tempah
The Midwest breeds funny, eccentric people, to varying degrees. You play shows not because you’re expecting to get a record deal, but to do something fun outside of mowing lawns. Everything else is just gravy… Or mustard. Patrick Carney
I didn’t move to Nashville with any inkling or dreams of getting a record deal. I didn’t have those stars in my eyes. I just wanted to take a break, relax, and figure out songwriting. Maren Morris
When I got my record deal at Atlantic, at the time, ‘indie’ wasn’t a style of music: it was a kind of label. And I think, eventually, the bands that ended up on those labels began to be branded as ‘indie bands,’ and then it became a genre. Kristian Bush
I grew up making music in my mum’s basement, and I used to tell her I was going down there to work, and she’d say, ‘That’s not work. Go get a real job!’ It took me signing a record deal to change her opinion! Mike Posner
‘Nothing’s Real’ is about my first-ever panic attack, which I had about four months after getting my record deal. Shura
I was really from the streets, and I really did hustle in a major way. When I got my record deal, I left the streets alone as far as hustling. I never, ever hustled again. I said, ‘I’m gonna change my life, I’m going legit. This is where I’m at.’ Fat Joe
I had very modest expectations when I first moved to New York. I didn’t even expect to get a record deal. Norah Jones
I’m openly gay, and I’ve got a major label record deal in Nashville, and it happened when I was 42 years old. It’s not supposed to happen that way. Mary Gauthier
I wanted out of my record deal with EMI. They wanted me to record one type of album; I wanted to record the type of music I wanted to make. Joss Stone
I was never supposed to get a record deal – that’s one in a million. Machine Gun Kelly
I was in musical theater when I first started, so there was always both acting and singing. But as far as getting a record deal, that took time. The majority of that time, I was acting. Christina Milian
I don’t think you need a record deal to write songs. You don’t need any other reason than you want to do it. It’s a far cry from why some people do music today. They make it to order, which is pretty horrible. Andy Taylor
I dropped out of law school when I got my record deal. Lukas Forchhammer
Even before I got the record deal, I never really used singing to get girls. I always felt weird about that. Musiq Soulchild
You expect certain things. You build up in your mind how it’s supposed to go down. When you get a record deal, you think you’re supposed to get X, Y, and Z. It doesn’t happen like that. You’re like ‘Oh, this isn’t as exciting as I thought it was going to be.’ Lupe Fiasco
I had to get out of my record deal that I signed with my previous band and get a full solo record deal going so, with all of the paperwork that, that entails it did take a while. Sebastian Bach
I’m not desperate to sign, like, a record deal. I’m very hungry, but I’m just not desperate for it. Little Simz
I don’t have anything to prove anymore. I don’t have a record deal, no one has any expectations, I’m in a position of freedom. I don’t need anyone’s approval. Juliana Hatfield
I was really fearful that I was going to lose my record deal. It’s really scary as a female to not have that success early on in your career, ’cause you don’t know how many chances you are going to get. Lauren Alaina
I have to work really hard to get the record deal – I have to spend years at it to get good. I have to practice to be good at guitar. Taylor Swift
I’d gone from being this art student messing about with music to this girl with a record deal, magazine front covers and all this hype. In many ways, it was everything I ever wanted, but when it happened all I felt was total, paralysing fear. Florence Welch
Every single day I wrote a song, I was hoping somebody like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean or whoever would record the song. It’s tough to do because there are so many great songwriters in Nashville, and I was lucky enough to get some songs recorded before I got my record deal. Cole Swindell
I’ve been able to experience so many things since I’ve had my record deal. Cole Swindell
When I was 17, I signed my record deal and passed my driver’s test. It was a very good year! Conor Maynard
‘The Voice’ ignited a fire in me to be an artist and to be a country singer, but not winning ignited an even bigger fire, because I was just like, ‘First of all, I know that I want this’; now I wanted it even more, ’cause I didn’t know if I had a record deal. RaeLynn
I DJ’d for years. I DJ’d in high school, and I think my parents thought it was a passing thing. And then when I was in my second year of college, I was like, ‘Yeah, you guys don’t need to send me money anymore. My DJ gigs are good enough. I’m selling music; I think I’m gonna have a record deal. I can pay my tuition.’ Kaskade
Education was a given, only because of the way I was raised. Truth be told, I thought, at 15 years old, I should go and get a record deal and drop out of school, and my parents would have had none of that. I’m grateful now that my parents were pushing me in that way, because I wasn’t mature enough on so many levels to do that. Trisha Yearwood
I was a total nerd and had, like, two friends, and then I left my school and got signed to a record deal. Kevin Jonas
I got a record deal with Sony, and I really just put acting aside. But it’s a love. Sophie B. Hawkins
Originally, I thought of being a photographer and nearly went to art school, but I got a record deal instead. Roisin Murphy
A record deal doesn’t make you an artist; you make yourself an artist. Lady Gaga
You’re just so excited that you have this record deal or this movie opportunity that you don’t stand up for yourself and say, This is what I want to do. Solange Knowles
I walked out of the Chinese restaurant with a fat check, a record deal, and a box of shrimp egg foo yung! Solomon Burke
Some people choose to go on ‘American Idol’ or another singing contest, and some people choose to beat down barrooms before anyone even knows who they are, in order to get a fan base, so when they do get a record deal, they have that to put in front of a label. Jake Owen
I made a CD in my dorm room and put it on the Internet, and my friends blew it up. Within a few months, I was doing shows across the country without a record deal, without a single, without anything. Mike Posner
When I got into the music industry, I wasn’t focused on being the most famous artist or even getting a major record deal. It was just to make music on my own terms or create my own image, do my own hair, do my own makeup. Janelle Monae
Well, I tried to get a record deal in 1966 or ’67, and everyone thought I was too eclectic. Carly Simon
Before I had a record deal, I was living in New York and playing anywhere I could, from somebody’s house to an open mic to coffeeshops. Langhorne Slim
I had a dream, as young people have quite idealistic dreams and goals, of, ‘I’m going to go to Los Angeles, and I’m going to become a star!’ I did get this huge record deal, and I recorded this music under Xavier. That didn’t really work out. Fantastic Negrito
I took temp jobs, recorded a demo in the evenings and eventually shopped a record deal. All I knew was that I wanted to write songs; thankfully, I also got to sing them. Natasha Bedingfield
But now it’s kind of a given that a 15-year-old would have a record deal and sell a quarter of a million records. No one’s expecting her to answer any deep theological questions. And I’ll tell you, I was asked some deep theological questions from the git-go. Amy Grant
I’m one of the few that comes from this vantage point: I never tried to get a record deal. Michelle Shocked
‘You Should Be Here’ came from a real place. I lost my father… it was right when I was getting my record deal. There’s just been so many moments that he hasn’t been here for. It’s kind of the reason I wrote the song. Cole Swindell
When I first got my record deal, I was like, ‘I just want to sing,’ and I never put much thought into what really goes into a record. But as I got older, I developed a passion for writing. Hilary Duff
When I signed a record deal, I was always told by execs I needed to be like everybody else, that I had to show my midriff, things that would take away from who I want to be as an artist. Jessica Simpson
I started out as a duo with Mis-Teeq’s Sabrina Washington, and we worked for four or five years before signing a record deal. I had no money, and I was taking part-time jobs just to earn the train fare to get to rehearsals. Alesha Dixon
I wanted to be part of pop culture, so I started songwriting, and I got signed to my first record deal. Bebe Rexha
I’ve had offers to sign a record deal, but the people I’ve talked to have wanted to package me and have me meet with songwriters who’ve written stuff for Whitney Houston, that sort of thing. That’s not at all my style. Lukas Haas
When I had a record deal in the ’90s, that was my dream – to make an album like Barbra Streisand’s Broadway album – and they laughed me out of the room. Broadway wasn’t cool. But artists like Michael Buble and Josh Groban have brought the classic genre back to the forefront, so I’m trying to find my way inside that market. Billy Porter
I was turning 20 during my first record. Those decade birthdays always kind of cause me, it seems, to reflect, look back, and then look forward. I just was closing this period of my life where I was living in a car and scrambling my whole life to then signing a six-record deal with Atlantic. Jewel
I can’t believe I got a major-label record deal. My music was quirky, and my voice was so odd and high and girlish, it was like a weird novelty act. Juliana Hatfield
There isn’t a single artist out there, I’m sure, who wouldn’t take the most perfect record deal. If the right record deal came along, like, the perfect deal, we’d definitely take it. Madi Diaz
I’m proud that I’ve even had a career, but ‘proud’ isn’t the first word I’d use. I feel lucky that I moved to Manchester when I was 12 because I don’t think I could have done this in Ireland. And I feel lucky that the government took care of me from the age of 16 to when I signed my first record deal at 19. Roisin Murphy
To drive though the streets of Manhattan to sign a record deal was like a movie. It was crazy – pretty hard to put into words. James Bay
My first record deal was an independent record deal back in 1995 or early 1996. Joe Nichols
I’d spent a year and a half without a record deal and had been doing a lot of soul-searching, a lot of self-examination and a lot of experimentation in other musical forms. Lari White
With my previous record deal, it’d be like, ‘OK, so I have this track then, EMI – do you know any singers, maybe? Do you have any singers on your little label there?’ And funnily enough, they didn’t. But I prefer finding unknown singers myself anyway. Deadmau5
It was a lot easier to write songs before I had a record deal, because the record labels and the industry doesn’t mean to put pressure on you, but they do. They don’t realize that they are, but you end up having a pressure there that you feel. At times I feel myself wanting to say, ‘Just let me do what I do.’ Ashton Shepherd
Da Pak was a group out of Chicago. It was a put-together group. We actually met for the first time at this showcase. They were like ‘Yo, you should do a song together.’ So we did. It just so happened that the name of the song was ‘Wolf Pak.’ They said, ‘Y’all should be a group called Da Pak, and here’s a record deal.’ Lupe Fiasco
If I had been thrown out into a radio tour when I was 18, or 17, and given a record deal, I don’t think… it would have been a total nightmare. Maren Morris
I played at Sony, Warner Bros., Universal, Big Machine, Capitol… after I played every one of those places, everyone offered me a record deal. I was just like, ‘Who am I? Why do I even deserve this?’ There are people busting their butts on Broadway doing this hardcore, playing three hours a night for tips, and I didn’t even ask for it. Thomas Rhett
Because I’m not in a record deal, I don’t have to operate in an album format. Frank Ocean
Though I still have no semblance of a life outside of Nine Inch Nails at the moment, I realize my goals have gone from getting a record deal or selling another record to being a better person, more well-rounded, having friends, having a relationship with somebody. Trent Reznor
We thought the hardest thing in the world was to get a record deal, then the hardest was to get a No. 1 record, and then the hardest thing is to stay at the top. It’s a lot of work. David Bryan
I think, back in the day, when I was first starting to make music, all I wanted to do was to get a record deal. G-Eazy
I was very dramatic – very, like, ‘It’s never going to happen. My life is over at 16 because I’m not already famous. I’m not going to get my record deal. I’m not going to be able to sing for a living.’ Trisha Yearwood
I advise wannabe singers to form a band, practise in your garage if you have to, but do as many charity or open mic shows as possible to get experience. I sang for seven years before getting a record deal, and I was already loving what I was doing. I just got lucky and got discovered. Bonnie Tyler
I keep in touch with these people who knew me long before I got a record deal. Trisha Yearwood
A year before I met Mark Brydon – he was the one I used to make all the music with in Moloko – I was living in Sheffield with a guy who was studying architecture. I used to go to his college and crash the lectures there. I had enrolled to do a fine art course, but then I met Mark, and we signed a record deal instead. Roisin Murphy
Red House Painters were doing cover songs before our first record deal. I remember live shows where we did an AC/DC song; I think we did ‘Send In The Clowns’ by Judy Collins. We did ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ which came out on our third record. Mark Kozelek
I started singing when I was 18 and landed my first record deal with RCA when I was 26 after a lot of grafting singing in pubs and clubs. Bonnie Tyler
In one week, I went from being a girl who owed a guy thousands of dollars – my manager Anthony was paying for my outfits, paying for my food; I was sleeping in his parents’ basement – to taking meetings with every major label in America. The next morning, I had a record deal and wrote him a cheque to pay back all that money. Halsey
I don’t have a record deal, I’m not looking for one, I don’t have a manager, I’m not promoting anything. Limahl
I feel like I am a celebrity for no reason, like people are resentful I didn’t have to play bars for 10 years to get a record deal. Carrie Underwood
Once I started looking for a record deal, I had a trainer. And the trainer told me that I would never sell a record if I didn’t lose weight. Jill Scott
I was an artist, I was executive producer on my first album, so I’ve always had to manage both. I couldn’t get a record deal. It wasn’t by choice – I couldn’t get a record deal, so I had to figure it out. Jay-Z
I’ve never made a dime from a record sale in the history of my record deal. I’ve been very happy with my sales, and certainly my audience has been very supportive. I make a living going out and playing shows. Lyle Lovett
When I signed my first record deal, I brought it over to my lawyer to look over. Soccer Mommy
I never sought out a record deal. It caught me with my pants down. I was just a musician doing my thing, I didn’t even send my records out. Jamie Cullum
Getting a record deal is a meaningless thing now. Oscar Isaac
I remember the first time I saw the ‘Sugarhill Gang’ on Soul Train. I was 11 or 12. I was like, ‘What’s going on? How did those guys get on national TV?’ And then, when I was a little older, a rapper from the neighborhood got a record deal. I was shocked. Jay-Z
There’s the conventional wisdom, of which I have none, where you get a record deal, you get a publicist, you get a campaign, and you do the tour, but none of that adds up to things like nuance and subtlety and dynamic. Chris Robinson
Well, I had a record deal since I was 18, and it got me where I am. Shelby Lynne
I went to New York in 1974, to either try to get a record deal, get into the New York Art Student League, or be a dancer. So that was my plan. Some plan. And I had no money. John Mellencamp
I think my issues with the Internet surround people who become ‘overnight celebrities.’ It’s like, really? You put something on YouTube, and they Auto-Tuned it, and now you’re a star, and you have a TV show, and you have a record deal. Kim Fields
Way before we got a record deal, we were playing clubs seven nights a week, three one-hour sets a night. Then we got the record deal, and we took off on the road and stayed out. Dimebag Darrell
Back in the Nineties, I was in an R&B group. I signed my first record deal when I was 12. Poo Bear
I tried out for American Idol, I got a record deal, and now it’s like my best days are ahead of me. Danny Gokey
There’s a system in place in Nashville, and for a long time, I was trapped in this idea that the only way to do it was to come to town, get a record deal, and do it the way they say. And that system works. But it caters to a specific kind of artist, and I didn’t necessarily fit that mold. Sam Hunt
I had this dream that you get this record deal, and you’re a star, and everybody loves you – but I was a youngster, and it didn’t work out that way. Fantastic Negrito
It only took me six months to get a record deal, but it took me 20 years to have a hit. Shane McAnally
It’s a sense of pride, a sense of you set out to get a record deal, and we got that. We set out to get a No. 1 record, and then we got that. Then you say, ‘Wow, that was impossible and now even more impossible is to stay No. 1 and stay current and put out new records that people care about,’ and we really stuck to that. David Bryan