I grew up in Brownsville; most of the kids I grew up with went to jail, not Yale. If they had heard of Yale, they thought it was a lock to pick.

There's more musical freedom on Madison Avenue than anywhere else. It's an Eden for a composer.

I was in the army, and I had given up the thought of being a composer.

To call somebody a Jewish composer is obviously redundant.

I worked at a Web development shop and other start-ups and eventually started a project called Ludicorp, which built an online game. We soon ran out of money, and Flickr was the last-ditch effort to save the company. It quickly became a very unstoppable juggernaut.

The album that defined my childhood was probably Ella Fitzgerald's 'Greatest Hits,' whereas my half-sister, who didn't have the same conservative upbringing, was listening to Cash Money and crunk.

Fame, I have already. Now I need the money.

I never planned to be rich, frankly speaking. I was more interested in being free, and doing things. And money helps. But otherwise I was never that interested in it.