In the oh-my-God-no-way department, the new boss of major record label EMI says that the record industry must embrace digital or die.

I know what you’re thinking, “no way,” but it is true. At some juncture the major media companies, whether they produce music, TV, movies or journalism have to fundamentally understand that digital is the future. They can no longer just pay lip service while trying to hold onto the past as tightly as possible.

EMI does give me hope because they were the first record label to go Digital Rights Management (DRM) free on their music downloads from Apple’s iTunes Store. I think they realize that fighting what users want is futile. And users will get what they want one way or the other.

That other way, of course, doesn’t pay record labels a dime. In fact, trying to attack music sharing services like Kazaa is a losing strategy. All it will do is inspire people to try to find much harder to detect methods of music sharing, like bit torrents.

Suing your own customers is an even worse strategy, especially when you sue them over 28 songs. Almost all the people who have pirated music also purchase music. Trying to attack your own customers is a good way to get less customers.

Working with consumers is the way to the future, and it is just plain common sense. You can’t scare or sue people into liking your products. You can get people to like your product, however, by offering products consumers like in attractive distribution packages.

Yes, it may be a rocky road, but all industries face challenging times when major change occurs. You can either embrace change and help push it forward or resist it.

We have seen what resiting change has gotten music and journalism. No where.

Well, actually it has gotten both industries somewhere — losing customers and profits.

Additional reading: It’s not just a journalism problem, part 1.