Life & Mortality Quote by Tony Visconti

A veteran producer calling out the business that once crowned him is never just a plea for “better songs.” Visconti’s line lands because it frames taste as duty: record companies aren’t only distributors, they’re gatekeepers with consequences. “Cultural responsibility” is a loaded phrase in an industry that loves to talk about “the market” as if it were weather. He’s arguing that the market is made, not found - shaped by budgets, playlists, radio deals, and what labels decide is worth repeated amplification.

The phrase “the buying public” matters, too. It’s slightly old-school, a reminder of when listeners were customers, not data points. That’s part of the subtext: the shift from selling records to monetizing attention has made trend-chasing feel safer, faster, and more extractive. “Milking a trend to death” isn’t just aesthetic disdain; it’s an image of overuse, of an idea drained until even the audience can hear the fatigue. He’s describing how monoculture happens: one sound gets overfunded, overpromoted, then mistaken for “what people want” because it’s all people are offered.

The kicker is the closing logic: “ultimately not profitable.” Visconti knows moral arguments rarely move executives. So he translates art into risk management: cultural short-termism burns out scenes, artists, and audiences, and it erodes the very trust labels need to launch the next thing. It’s a producer’s worldview - thinking in careers, catalogs, and legacy - pushing back against an industry optimized for the quarter.