I couldn't do a show; I have about as much talent to do television as, you know... it's not what I do. I wouldn't know where to begin.
— Jimmy Iovine
Record companies are not unique. Artists are. Period!
Algorithms are great, but they're very limited in what they can do as far as playing songs and playing a mood.
If you're great, that means you're freaked out that the next day you're not going to be great. You keep trying.
I'm interested in listening to the people who walk in the door. If your ego and your accomplishments stop you from listening, then they've taught you nothing.
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.
Beats succeeded because, as music lovers, we knew oscilloscopes don't buy headphones - people do.
I can't learn in school, but I can learn from somebody who I think is cool and great.
Nobody wanted to be in business with Death Row because, unfortunately, they felt there was an element there that could be dangerous. But I just knew they had great music and that they were a bunch of guys who wanted to make it out of the ghetto. That's something I can understand.
Interscope is run more like a rock band than a record company. It's run in a very spontaneous, heartfelt way.
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.
Digital sound is damaging music; it's damaging the artists. It's so degrading.
The lousy guitar player in any band is the bass player.
There's just no way to stop a movement in popular culture. It's going to happen, with or without you. There's absolutely no way to stop that train.
There's a sea of music out there, but there's no curation for it.
What we feel, especially in the streaming area, especially in the services area, is that you need curation.
That's how I grew up - it wasn't cool to not have a good system.
If you follow the lead of the artists, they will take you places that you could never go on your own.
The media people need to have real tech people, and the tech people need media people. Otherwise, you have the 'Star Wars' bar on Tatooine with everyone fighting.
Genres are just names.
Just because you did something once doesn't mean anything. You have to be willing in your heart to begin again every day. The minute I'm not willing to do that, I will retire.
Everything Dre and I do is completely on feel. We don't prepare for anything... we only work on instinct.
Too often, the music business allowed third-party companies to innovate for us - and that simply does not work anymore.
I knew in my heart that I wasn't cool, but I figured I could at least be cool by association.
I'm most proud that I thought of Beats at 55.
Those folks at Death Row were the Rolling Stones of their time.
Dylan captured what was on a million minds and turned it into poetry. With 'Blowin' in the Wind' or 'The Times They Are A-Changin',' he set a whole new standard.
Bob Dylan enabled rock & roll to grow up and survive. He injected the power of language and ideas into the music.
I didn't have any sophistication. I didn't really have any great taste or anything like that. I was just a kid from Brooklyn. But what I learnt is the why, the how. The work ethic.
I always wanted to be where the cool was because I didn't think I was cool. But music was cool.
I don't know why records are treated different than books. I don't know why an Eminem record is different than a Stephen King movie.
Most technology companies are culturally inept. They're never going to get curation right.
I always say, 'I love chocolate, but I'm not Willy Wonka.'
I'm happy with studio infiltration, but I'm thrilled when I see 12- to 20-year olds walking down the street with Beats and not two-dollar earbuds.
I wanted a label that reflects the times... a center for artists who want to express themselves. That's what makes Interscope unique. It's about freedom.
Just because you go to Burning Man doesn't make you Hunter Thompson.
I don't have a rear-view mirror.
There are geniuses, savants; I'm not one of them. I work hard, I see where popular culture's going to move, but I've gotta keep having information pumped into me. I look under every rock.
I follow cool. When I went up to see Steve Jobs, I said, 'The party's at this guy's house.'
The great artists of music have always innovated and boldly changed the game, but the industry itself has not.
I have a gift: I'm very lucky to be able to spot when a person is special.
Life is a balance of fear and overcoming it.
The good news is in the record business, they only count your successes.
Bruce Springsteen gave people faith in rock & roll and in themselves again.
Labels need to work with artists to help them achieve their best work, not to jam records out that are half-baked or three-quarters baked.
I was very insecure. I figured the only thing I can do is just work harder than everybody else and be useful. So I would anticipate when a client would need a cup of tea. I would anticipate when they wanted to rewind the tape. I would anticipate when they were going to do a vocal.
There are thousands of Eminems. Just listen to a song. There are thousands of them. It's just that he had the talent. It's like someone with a talent to hit a baseball. He had the talent to write lyrics.
I always try to go where the excitement is, where the best music is. I don't care what kind of music it is. I go with the best artist we can find.
I'm really interested in the record industry and the artists and the problems they're having.
My life changed because Bruce Springsteen got on a mic in front of me.
