Two surprises today regarding Zac Hanson: the little drummer dude is now a not-at-all-little 22 years old, and he seems like a pretty thoughtful fellow. In this interview with Second Supper, he chats about the history of his band and the future direction of the music industry. He also gives the second negative comment about Def Jam records we’ve read this week from a drummer. Zac recounts:

We ended up on Island/Def Jam. The fact that Def Jam was involved made it not a good home for us. The way they run their business—and you see this more and more—is based on a quarterly model. Records take more than three months to make and promote, and you can’t be successful in a setup that demands immediate payoff. So we were in a terrible home, with people from legal backgrounds instead of creative. This isn’t an industry that is looking to build careers. Labels are starting to do a 360 Deal, where they want to own your Web site, merchandising, touring, not just your recording. We don’t want to be in a dying industry. It was time to go, so we forged our own label….To me, the future is in building partnerships with passionate fan bases. The quality we offer needs to be what brings the fan back. The business of selling music is still alive and well, but the industry is dying. We want to create a new model, using tools like the Internet to level the playing field.

Nicely put. And now for the obligatory “MMMBop” video.