Creativity Quote by Roy Ayers

Ayers is describing a hustle, but the line lands like a quiet manifesto about power in music: control the path between you and the listener, or someone else will. Coming from a musician who’s lived through vinyl’s golden age, the major-label chokeholds, the CD crash, and the long digital hangover, the practicality carries cultural weight. He’s not romanticizing “the old days.” He’s pointing to a newer truth: the most reliable currency isn’t a distributor’s reach, it’s the credibility created in the room.

“You can undersell the distributor and the stores” is blunt, almost mischievous. It exposes the hidden math of the industry: middlemen take their cut, then artists are told to be grateful for “exposure.” Ayers flips the script. Selling direct isn’t just about keeping more money; it’s a refusal to let retail pricing and gatekeeping dictate the value of his work. The word “undersell” isn’t anti-commerce, it’s pro-artist leverage.

Then he seals the argument with a performer’s insight: “people know what they’re getting cause they’ve just seen you live.” That’s the subtext most marketing budgets can’t buy. A live show collapses uncertainty. It turns a record purchase from a speculative bet into a souvenir of a shared experience, proof you were there. Ayers is effectively saying: the product is trust, and trust is built face-to-face. In an era of infinite streaming and zero commitment, he’s advocating the oldest conversion funnel in music - play well, connect, then offer something tangible on the way out.