Reid: Great talent scouts act as super consumers, not detached professionals
L.A. Reid · Music Mogul: L.A. Reid · Nov 7, 2016 · at 22:07
Record executive L.A. Reid reflects on his intuitive philosophy for identifying superstars.
0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.4s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think of myself as a super consumer. I don't think of myself as a professional. I think of myself as a fan”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from L.A. Reid
Arista required Reid to replace Clive Davis as condition of buyout
“The owners of Arista, they said, we'll buy your label, but you'll have to agree to a move to New York. B, you'll have to replace Clive Davis and take over Arista Records as its president.”
Reid refuses to let prospective superstar artists leave meetings without signing
“Yeah, I don't let people leave. If I think you're gonna be a big star, I don't let you leave, you know. Sometimes people insist, hey, can I think about this? You know, and then the answer is usually no, you can't, you need to do it right now, because the minut…”
Reid: Leading a music label is like leading a band
“There's not very much difference between being a band leader and being a CEO of a music company, because it's managing talent, and I won't say that I mastered it, but I certainly knew something about it when I started the company, and I figured the rest out.”
Reid: Label buyers acquire future creative output, not just back catalogs
“The way it really works is, I'm the manager of the talent, and what you're buying is really me. You're not just buying those records that have already been massively successful, you're buying what you hope the future will be.”
Reid: For 20 years, I was the only Black top record executive
“You know, for 20 years I've been the only black guy.”
Luther Vandross tour shifted Reid from performer to talent scout
“And I think I became more fascinated by the talent that we were around than I was about actually being a performer on stage. And I think that was probably the beginning of me sort of drifting. Into a talent finder and a talent nurturer more so than a performer…”