Rolling Stone had an interview with Jimmy Buffett in which he talked about jump-starting his music career - and figuring out how important control was - while working in Nashville as a journalist for Billboard:
"During that period, I learned what the music business really was. And to a large extent, it’s still stacked against you as a performer unless you take command of your own situation.
So when it came to my career, I wanted to take care of business. When I first started, they took everything away. They’d say, 'You want a record deal? Well, you can keep your publishing (rights), but you won’t have a record deal.'
"Through that gauntlet of experiences, I knew I wasn’t that good a guitar player or singer, but I could perform well on stage. That was my go-to while trying to create other opportunities. I wanted to be a working musician, playing on stage. So, during that whole process, I started thinking, 'Why would I rent a piano at the price promoters charge when I could buy one and pay it off in 10 shows?' I thought about building my own bus and renting it to others when I wasn’t using it. Those ideas came from being raised in a shipbuilding family. I was thinking about ways to make performing easier and less expensive. It all started there."
