Politics & Power Quote by Giorgio Moroder

Moroder is quietly puncturing the romance of discovery. In a business that still sells the myth of the lone genius getting “found,” he’s pointing to the less cinematic truth: launching an artist has become an infrastructure project. When he says “notably in America,” it lands as both admiration and critique. The U.S. market is the global loudspeaker, but it’s also the most expensive place to buy attention, where scale isn’t just an advantage; it’s the entry fee.

The intent is practical, almost weary: a veteran producer translating industry reality into plain speech. The subtext is sharper. “So much money” doesn’t only mean studio time or a good video. It suggests marketing armies, playlist pitching, influencer campaigns, tour support, content churn, legal clearances, data analytics, and the quiet tax of competing with platforms engineered to reward constant visibility. “You would hardly believe the sums involved” isn’t just astonishment; it’s a warning about who gets to participate. If the cost of a “new artist” resembles a startup burn rate, then artistry starts to get filtered by access to capital and investors’ appetite for predictable returns.

Context matters: Moroder helped invent modern pop’s machine room, turning synthesizers and studio craft into chart-making tools. Coming from him, this isn’t anti-commerce purism; it’s an insider noticing how the machine has grown hungrier. Even in an era where uploading music is cheap, breaking through is not. The democratization of distribution has been paired with the privatization of reach, and Moroder’s line is a clean, rueful summary of that bargain.