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" Music is one of those businesses in which, if you're talented and hustle hard enough, you can make it - specifically as an entrepreneur. If you look as far back as Berry Gordy, Russell Simmons, Andre Harrell, L.A. Reid, and Sean 'Diddy' Combs, there's a whole lineage of successful black entrepreneurs who have built their own companies from scratch. "

Troy Carter

Black

You

" I don't think we're out there aggressively looking for deals. Our strategy is that business follows the creative. We're not out there scouring the marketplace for opportunities. "

" You can't make an artist like Lady Gaga. You can help support, you can help develop the vision - I think you can add to the vision - but you just can't make an artist like that. That's like saying Lebron James' high school coach made Lebron James. "

" When we look at transportation in America, there's going to be companies like Magic Bus, where you have these private bus fleets. You're going to have carpooling; you're going to have these different types of transportation. It's going to be a full ecosystem, but it's not going to be a winner-takes-all. "

" The more people are listening to music and experiencing it, the more value for both the music companies and the artist, especially when their financial model is built around that . With the music industry, everybody is starting to understand that doesn't begin with a piece of music. "

" If you can't see it, you can't be it. "

Troy Carter

You

See

" When I started Atom Factory, the idea was to do something small yet powerful. That name resonated with the mission. "

" It's more important to have the one million diehard fans than to have 54 million people who aren't necessarily fans, or they might have liked one thing you said or one video. "

Troy Carter

Important

People

" As we look at Hollywood and the controversy around the Oscars, it goes back to the voting block and the lack of people who come from that culture. For example, the NWA movie is a fantastic, fantastic movie. You need people who can look at a piece of art like that and understand the artistry in it. "

" Mattel stepped up and changed the face of Barbie. Barbie looks a lot different than she did decades ago. Or even three weeks ago. "

Troy Carter

Face

Three

" The music industry really has to learn a lesson from the tech industry about what scale means at the end of the day and learning how to monetize. "

" To me, as A&R people and as managers, we're in the business of finding talent. It's no different than working with these engineers who just want to make good products. "

Troy Carter

Talent

People

" I had this little rap group, and we were called '2 Too Many'... We used to hang out in front of Jazzy Jeff's record studio every day. "

" Lady Gaga is phenomenal. From the first day I met her, she was lightning in a bottle. "

" I bring in the record label who distributes the music. "

" Hustle is simple - it's doing the work. A lot of people like to talk about it, a lot of people have ideas, but it's difficult to actually do the work. "

" Technology has long been the driver of growth in the music business from the invention of lacquers, eight-track players, vinyl, cassettes and CDs. "

" The music industry really is a meritocracy on a creative level. "

" The way it works is the manager's sort of, you know, is like the hub of an artist's career. "

" No one has bridged that gap between music and technology yet. "

" I grew up carrying crates of records for Will Smith and those guys. "

Troy Carter

Records

Will

" It isn't that every company is going to be successful. The law of averages shows that 80% of companies are going to fail. "

" I invested in Uber in 2011 when it was only in San Francisco. "

" I'm a very commonsense guy - I just look at the viability of the idea, if I feel the team has the ability to execute the idea. I also look at the investment syndicate, the size of the market, and then a lot of gut married on top of it. "

" I found a scrap book that my mom had given to me, and inside was a letter that I wrote to myself at age 19. The letter included my goals and dreams for my life, and even then, I was writing about the management company that I built today. "

" When you have to negotiate for survival, and you have to know how to read rooms, and you have to know who the bad guys in the rooms are - who has the gun in their pocket, who's just going to brandish it, and who's going to actually pull the trigger. So I think that's just a natural instinct that comes with coming from where I come from. "

" My mom was not able to buy us the expensive Air Jordans, so if I wanted something that was a little bit nicer, my brother and I, we had to go earn money for it. "

" We look to find partners whose values align with that of our artists. We also look for unique platforms that the potential branding partner can provide. Sometimes that's distribution, and sometimes it's an advertising platform. Each situation is unique. "

" When your back is against the wall, your brain has to function at a high level. "

" I think piracy itself is going to end up going away. "

Troy Carter

End

Away