Seth Godin Goes On and On...
Seth Godin just linked to an article he wrote almost seven years ago about the state of mass media and their monopolistic control of content and distribution. You probably wouldn't be interested in reading it.
After all, the article is really long (almost 4,500 words), it's pretty insulting to the businesses that created the foundation of our media culture, and like I said -- it's seven years old.
Godin cites the three main catalysts for creating the existing media monoply:
1. The FCC limited the number of TV and radio stations in every market, allowing three networks to dominate TV and the record companies to dominate radio.
2. Copyright ensures that we can charge a lot for a book or a record... way more than it costs to make it.
3. The limited number of physical distribution outlets (record stores, movie theatres) guarantees that distributors with clout get more shelf space.
Controlling the media was based on:
• Scarce creators, under long term contracts
• Scarce retail outlets, able to be controlled with marketing muscle
• Scarce spectrum (few radio stations, few TV stations)
• Copyright laws (and a lack of technology) that limited theft of services
• Limited power of the creators to compete without a large media company as partner
Seth lists the single-step process for becoming successful and profitable in TODAY'S new media world:
1. Establish a direct and positive relationship with the end user.
It sounds easy.
It's not.
It's scary.
It's likely to wreck your business before it saves it. Doesn't matter. The truth is: businesses that don't aggressively pursue this tactic will disappear.
Nah.
No reason at all that you ought to waste your time with this old article.
After all, the article is really long (almost 4,500 words), it's pretty insulting to the businesses that created the foundation of our media culture, and like I said -- it's seven years old.
Godin cites the three main catalysts for creating the existing media monoply:
1. The FCC limited the number of TV and radio stations in every market, allowing three networks to dominate TV and the record companies to dominate radio.
2. Copyright ensures that we can charge a lot for a book or a record... way more than it costs to make it.
3. The limited number of physical distribution outlets (record stores, movie theatres) guarantees that distributors with clout get more shelf space.
Controlling the media was based on:
• Scarce creators, under long term contracts
• Scarce retail outlets, able to be controlled with marketing muscle
• Scarce spectrum (few radio stations, few TV stations)
• Copyright laws (and a lack of technology) that limited theft of services
• Limited power of the creators to compete without a large media company as partner
Seth lists the single-step process for becoming successful and profitable in TODAY'S new media world:
1. Establish a direct and positive relationship with the end user.
It sounds easy.
It's not.
It's scary.
It's likely to wreck your business before it saves it. Doesn't matter. The truth is: businesses that don't aggressively pursue this tactic will disappear.
Nah.
No reason at all that you ought to waste your time with this old article.
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