Art & Creativity Quote by Adam Rich

There’s a whole business model hiding inside Rich’s throwaway phrasing, and it’s uglier than it looks. “Big labels” are framed less as tastemakers than as accountants: they “sign” not to build, but to park money. The key tell is “like a write off” - a blunt, almost bored nod to how creativity gets processed through tax logic and portfolio thinking. Bands become line items, useful even when they fail, because failure can be financially engineered to hurt less (or even help).

As an actor, Rich is speaking from an adjacent industry that runs on the same machinery: development slates, “first-look” deals, projects greenlit for positioning rather than belief. The intent isn’t to romanticize struggling artists; it’s to puncture the myth that a major deal equals validation. In this worldview, signing is not a promise, it’s a hedge. Labels can scoop up a scene’s heat, keep competitors out, and later shrug off the cost. The band gets the illusion of arrival while the corporation keeps optionality.

The subtext is a warning about power asymmetry. If you’re treated as a write-off, your success isn’t the point; your controllability is. It also hints at why so many acts feel stalled right after “getting signed”: the label’s risk was never emotional, just financial. Rich’s casual syntax mirrors the casualness of the exploitation - “just sign” - as if this is routine, even boring. That’s what makes it sting: the cynicism isn’t dramatic; it’s procedural.