Peter Gabriel doesn’t want to take a Sledgehammer to the music business. The veteran artist says in this insightful NYT profile: “I don’t believe in the death of the major record companies. But as an artist, I’d love to see them reinvented as service companies.”

SEE ALSO: Peter Gabriel’s Latest Venture: Lossless Music Subscription Service

Gabriel’s been doing his bit in that regard for a decade, having founded white-label music retailer OD2 in 1999, since when he’s also invested in recommendation engine The Filter and ad-supported free track provider We7. On that last one: “Twenty years ago, Mr. Gabriel says, the idea of tying a recording to an ad would have felt sacrilegious. ‘Today I have a different view: it’s a way to hold onto income for creators’.”

Eden Ventures Charles Grimsdale, an investor in both of the recent startups: “When most labels were banging their heads, he got it and saw the liberating value of internet distribution to artists, and that’s what excited him. He has a very good sense technologically of what’s going to work.”

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