Metallica manager Peter Mensch was guest on BBC Radio’s Today and he talked about the current state of the music business. 

“Fewer records get sold, more are streamed,” he says. “Less money is there. The global business is fragmenting as we do deals with labels in different countries. (In the past), you used to sell enough records to not go on tour. In the 90s you used to make as much money on tour as you would selling records. Now you make one-tenth of that money on records sales. The biggest problem with the new record business is that I don’t know who the fans are. Fans are the people that will actually pay for something.”

Mensch and his Q Prime management company with partner Cliff Burnstein has managed some of the world’s biggest names in rock including AC/DC, Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

Listen to the entire chat at BBC Radio’s Today.

Billboard.com caught up with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich to talk about how he embraces the band’s legacy, avoids sabbaticals in-between projects and aligns with streaming partners in a post-Napster music industry.

An excerpt below:

Billboard: You were a vocal opponent to Napster and digital piracy, and famously held out on iTunes and other digital services until 2006. But as we see artists align themselves with Tidal, Spotify and now Apple Music, how do you approach the digital-music landscape? Do you feel the need to choose sides?

Ulrich: “You don’t want to necessarily say yes to everything that comes your way. Obviously, in the case of Apple, they’re a bigger brand or company than anybody and they have some very smart people running it. So we’d call (Apple Music) a no-brainer. Personally, I have 37 Apple products and that’s just me not counting the rest of my family, so that’s a fairly easy one for me. We’ve been in a relationship with Daniel Ek and Spotify for a few years, which has been very rewarding. He’s a smart guy and getting our music out, we try to align ourselves with the people who are smartest.

“You can tell a lot about the companies by the people who run them. With Daniel, he’s very passionate about music so you feel safe with him. Same with Eddy Cue and the people who run the music over at Apple; they’re very passionate about artists and music and so on, so you feel like there’s safe relationships to be in. Some of the other companies you maybe deal with a little more cautiously. We try to put ourselves somewhere in the middle. We’re not necessarily the tip of the arrow coming in first, at the same time we don’t like to be too difficult and demanding. We flow in with the waves as they reach the shore.”

Pop star Taylor Swift recently took on Apple and slammed the company's launch of Apple Music, her main issue being that artists wouldn't receive royalties during the venture's three month trial period. An open letter written by Swift to Apple (found here) echoes Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich's famous July 2000 stand against Napster (available here).

Swift (2015): "This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.

But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

Ulrich (2000): "My band, Metallica, is fortunate enough to make a great living from what it does. Most artists are barely earning a decent wage and need every source of revenue available to scrape by. Also keep in mind that the primary source of income for most songwriters is from the sale of records. Every time a Napster enthusiast downloads a song, it takes money from the pockets of all these members of the creative community.

It's clear... that if music is free for downloading, the music industry is not viable; all the jobs I just talked about will be lost and the diverse voices of the artists will disappear. The argument I hear a lot, that 'music should be free,' must then mean that musicians should work for free. Nobody else works for free. Why should musicians?"

It has been reported that since Swift voiced her opinions, Apple was quick to react by changing the initial plan, announcing they will pay the royalties during the Apple Music trial period.