I was surprised by Greg Sandoval's piece at News.com that took an honest look at the roles carried out by record labels. This is a site, mind you, that...well...judging from the commentary and tone....pretty much hates the music industry. (No, I really don't think that's an overstatement.) What brought this newfound objectivity? Trent Reznor, the latest rallying point of the digerati.

If you have believed what tech writers have been saying in recent years, record labels are all but extinct. They do nothing that artists could not do themselves. In the age of digital distribution and MySpace, anyone can ride the long tail to a profitable and sustainable career. Just draw the wrath of EMI by using Beatles samples to create a mashup album, we're lead to believe, and your career will take off. All of which is either exaggeration or plain ol' ignorance. There's a big difference between broken and struggling, and pointless.

But an interview with Reznor (about his work with Saul Williams and the resulting pay-what-you-want album Niggy Tardust) allowed showed some realities of the industry: It's not easy, success is far from guaranteed and there are risks in turning music artists into jack-of-all-trades businesspeople rather than delegating the duties to experienced specialists.

That's not to say all record labels will survive to see the end of this decade, or that high-profile artists won't release music through promoters or managers. The article quoted a professor from USC that echoes what I said about record labels just last week. "The labels aren't going anywhere," he said. "They're just going to have different duties in the future."

Just the fact that Sandoval interviewed music attorney Chris Castle is a step in a different direction. Reacting to Reznor's disappointment that only 18% (of the 150,00 who downloaded the album) actually paid $5, Castle offered this:

Trent thinks that (150,000 downloads) is bad?" Castle asked. "I'll tell you bad. Bad is zero. Bad is when you spend $100,000 on marketing and tour support and you got nothing. Do you know how hard it is to go from a cold start and just get 1,000 people to listen to an album? Welcome to the music business, Trent.

[music jobs] HR Manager at EMI NA; New York, NY.