Just-hired EMI head of digital Douglas Merrill made the rounds yesterday. He spoke with Silicon Alley Insider.

I'm a big fan of trying a lot of things. One of the things we learned at Google was that you have to try a lot of things, and not all of them will work. But they give you data. And by definition the data is right.

He spoke to paidContent as well.

I think the industry as a whole has got some really interesting experiments in what the future world is. I think EMI has done some really terrific things like their recent move to DRM-free. But, as for me, I always start with principles. The first principle is simple: Fans want to experience art and artists want to create. What the roles of the music labels are in connecting artists, helping artists create, to fans, helping fans experience, I think it’s TBD. ... What’s the role of the labels? I don’t know. ... I think it’s going to be critical that EMI find ways to add value to partners.

Those comments bring up two questions, and I started wondering these things when I first heard the news about Merrill. First, what is the role of a record label? Merrill admits that one is up in the air. Second, and related to the first, just how much change can a single music company create? Other than a few exceptions (and some big failures), music companies do not create the services or stores that carry music the final few feet to the customer. They can certainly facilitate and encourage certain types of businesses, but they are limited by the success of their partners...the iTunes, Rhapsodies, Microsofts, Googles, imeems and MySpaces of the world. Merrill creates tools. Unless EMI labels are going to start selling direct to customers, the new tools of digital music will be in the hands of others.

Of course, it can be argued that Merrill can push EMI in new directions and champion the sort of things consumers value -- better interoperability, greater value. But for Merrill to succeed, he will have to not only bring change to EMI but do so in a way that encourages change at the other majors (they're all in this together) and puts EMI's partners in a position to succeed.