Lotsa threads about this topic and similar ones lately. For me, it all keeps going back to the music-buying public, and the rash of "free" entertainment that the Internet brought us.
Low record sales... OK, fine... But you honestly expect me to believe that's on the artists??
My consumer mind says, "Hey labels.. your products are out there FOR FREE. You're still putting out some nice music, but it's very free. I even pay $10 a month for Rhapsody (unlimited albums and plays on my computer and phone from 99% of the world's artists), and I feel like I'm ripping YOU off."
Problem is, as I've said before.. you can't undo this. The Free is here to stay. Awful tough to convince the world to return to paying $19 for a CD (yikes!) or even $10 for an MP3 album.
Artists and bands shouldn't have to worry about selling a brand of headphones. Or a comic book. Or clothes. And as it was said above, trying to please everyone with your music will never happen. No company or person has a 100% satisfaction rate of anything. It's so subjective.. to assume you need to stick to a blueprint defines why the problem is in the labels, not the musicians.