OK Go’s Damian Kulash – HuffPost 7.20.10

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new acts?

Damian Kulash: Honestly, it will sound very curt, but the only thing that really matters is making good stuff, you know? Making good music, making good art, making good videos. Just make the things you make well. We’re one of those bands that has had lot of success in non-traditional ways, going around the system so everybody expects us to tell them that there are secrets around the system, and really, there aren’t. No amount of marketing savvy is going to make crappy music good music or make people care about it. People are always asking us, “What’s the secret to a viral video?” It’s just to make a good video, you know? It’s actually pretty simple.

Obviously, even if you’re making great things, there are a lot of mistakes you can make. You can really screw things up, you can certainly make deals with the wrong people, or be in it for the wrong reason. But there’s not a lot of money in rock ‘n’ roll. People that want to be in a rock band because they want to be rich and famous, or because they want to be professional alcoholics, it’s not that satisfying a job from those perspectives. So, if you are the type of person who is animated when you wake up in the morning and all you want to do is go make something, then it’s a pretty good job, but it’s a low shot of success and you’d better like making things for years and years before anyone’s going to give you any money to do it.