Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx – HuffPost 5.6.11

Mike Ragogna: Nikki, what advice do you have for new artists?

Nikki Sixx: My advice for new artists is learn the legal system. If you know the legal system, it’s sort of like knowing who you’re getting into bed with. If you want to get in bed with sharks, at least understand what you’re getting into bed with. I think that if you know the legal system, and you know how to protect yourself, the big concept for me in making music, is not one or two hits, it’s twenty, thirty, forty hits, and seventy or one-hundred songs. The only way to do that is to be financially secure enough that you don’t have to do things. Desperate people do desperate things. You don’t want to be a desperate artist, it doesn’t look good, and fans deserve more. So, understand your legal position, and know that side of the business as you’re learning how to be a better songwriter and artist, and in the end, we’ll have better quality art if we’re not relying on the bank. If you have your own money, you’re protected, and you’re safe, then you make music like you did when you were a teenager, and that’s just to do it because you love it.