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It's typical of record companies. They sign you because you're unique, and then they want to put you in a mold so they can sell records.

The record business has always mystified me. Sometimes there are reasons why things sell or don't sell that can't be understood by mere mortals.

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.

It's not like it used to be where everybody has a record company to belong to.

A record co. is just a vehicle for public appearances.

Record contracts are just like - I'm gonna say the word - slavery. I would tell any young artist... don't sign.

The people who are competing business-wise out there want what other successful labels and artists have. I don't want what they have; I want my own path, my own sound, my own identity. Record labels care nothing about identity or artistic freedom, they want good business.

When it all started, record companies - and there were many of them, and this was a good thing - were run by people who loved records, people like Ahmet Ertegun, who ran Atlantic Records, who were record collectors. They got in it because they loved music... Now, record companies are run by lawyers and accountants.

It's always push and pull with a record company.