Quote

Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.

Marketing is more important than it has ever been. But I'm trying to tear the layers back and make it not so contrived. I think people just want entertainment.

At an independent label, you have to figure out inventive ways to promote without spending the money.

We do have our finger on the pulse of the marketplace, if for no other reasons than having all these live events and listening to our audience all the time.

Most of the big money people don't know what would interest an audience if you did it. They only know what interested the audience last time.

Publicity is a great purifier because it sets in action the forces of public opinion, and in this country public opinion controls the courses of the nation.

People just want to watch people live their authentic lives and share the good and the bad. You can have fun and be a positive influence and have a good impact. And it can still be entertaining.

The one thing with the established and traditional media industries is that whenever something new comes along, they don't know what to make of it, and the natural reaction is to fight it or push back.

I so think it's limiting to define an audience ahead of time. This is something I've brought on myself by being like, 'There are no 'real' teen publications! That's what I'll do!' But then it's like, well, if I want 'Rookie' to be successful and popular, then people will invalidate the realness by saying it's popular and mainstream.

Because it's so easy to medicate our need for self-worth by pandering to win followers, 'likes' and view counts, social media have become the metier of choice for many people who might otherwise channel that energy into books, music or art - or even into their own Web ventures.