In an age of information glut, it
is still the marketing, the media campaign, the distribution,
and the sales that determine the economic outcome.
This advantage, however, is also being eroded, albeit
glacially.
The Internet is essentially a free marketing and - in the case
of digital goods - distribution channel. It directly reaches
200 million people all over the world. Even with a minimum
investment, the likelihood of being seen by surprisingly large
numbers of consumers is high. Various business models are
emerging or reasserting themselves - from ad sponsored content
to packaged open source software.
Many creative people - artists, authors, innovators - are
repelled by the commercialization of their intellect and muse.
They seek - and find - alternatives to the behemoths of
manufacturing, marketing and distribution that today control
the bulk of intellectual property. Many of them go freelance.
Indie music labels, independent cinema, print on demand
publishing - are omens of things to come.
This inexorably leads to disintermediation - the removal of
middlemen between producer or creator and consumer.
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