"When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this"
About this Quote
The key line is “You can’t sign them in the usual way.” “Usual” is doing heavy lifting. It implies contracts, lawyers, royalties, publishing rights - the whole Western paperwork machine that pretends to be fair because it’s formal. Albarn’s subtext is blunt: formality can be a weapon when one side understands the fine print and the other doesn’t, or when enforcement only runs in one direction. “They’d end up getting ripped off” is an unusually unromantic admission for an artist talking about collaboration; it acknowledges how often “discovering” musicians from the Global South is just extraction with nicer branding.
He’s also protecting himself, rhetorically and ethically. By naming the risk of exploitation, he preempts the familiar critique of the Western tastemaker parachuting in, curating authenticity, and cashing out. The phrase “defeat the object” reveals his self-justification: the label’s purpose is structural, not aesthetic - to build a business arrangement that doesn’t reproduce the same old asymmetry. It’s less about celebrating difference than designing around power.
Quote Details
| Topic | Business |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Albarn, Damon. (2026, January 15). When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-youre-doing-a-deal-with-someone-in-the-155146/
Chicago Style
Albarn, Damon. "When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-youre-doing-a-deal-with-someone-in-the-155146/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-youre-doing-a-deal-with-someone-in-the-155146/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
