Jimmy Iovine Quotes
20 quotes from Jimmy Iovine — Music producer and co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics (sold to Apple for $3B)..
“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.”
“If you follow the lead of the artists, they will take you places that you could never go on your own.”
“Curation is everything.”
“You have to think, 'What can I do to help my team develop, grow, and become better performers?' rather than, 'What's in it for me?”
“I really think that education is ground zero for fixing anything.”
“To get people to pay for something that you built, it has to be of service. It has to make somebody's life better.”
“If you are not frightened, you are not original.”
“When I feel fear, I train myself to move forward.”
“Bob Dylan enabled rock & roll to grow up and survive. He injected the power of language and ideas into the music.”
“There's just no way to stop a movement in popular culture. It's going to happen, with or without you.”
“You should try and fail and not be afraid. Get up again.”
“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.”
“My life changed because Bruce Springsteen got on a mic in front of me.”
“I learned my work ethic from Springsteen. I was a guy who would say, five o'clock, I'm out of here. Springsteen worked all the time. We were in a room with no window — no one ever knew what time it was.”
“If your ego and your accomplishments stop you from listening, then they've taught you nothing. 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.”
“It's a story about a white guy and a Black guy that come together, and stick together through every problem that you could possibly have. And they stay together — it's about persistence. My question to anyone is: Why aren't there a lot of companies run by a white guy and a Black guy that come together?”
“Fear is a powerful thing. It's got a lot of firepower. If you can figure out a way to wrestle that fear to push you from behind rather than stand in front of you, that's very powerful. I always felt that I had to work harder than the next guy just to do as well as the next guy. And to do better than the next guy, I had to just kill it.”
“Not every industry was meant to last forever. The record industry needs to do something that artists can't do for themselves. Or else there's no reason for it to exist.”
“You have talent, you give them the keys and let them drive. The thing about seeing the big picture and being self-aware is knowing that it's not about you. It's about the big picture. It's not about you. It's not. This is not about you.”
“Apple got everything right — except that earbud. It wasn't so much the files. Your sound system is only as good as its weakest link. And when you have an entire generation hailing Apple and thinking because that earbud is in there and it's white and that means you've got class or style or swag... It sounded terrible. It had no emotion.”
