kidmercury

One of the major themes of this blog is the publishing revolution -- meaning the changes occuring in the publishing business, primarily through the rise of the Internet and digital media, and how those changes will lead to media being free, and new business models that will arise around free media.

Right now, in many conversations about free media, it is the established and recognized publishers that get attention when they go free. Trent Reznor is my recent favorite example.

But in reality, the free media revolution benefits underdog publishers more. From my perspective, the digital technology that enables media to be produced and distributed at no cost is a textbook example of a disruptive innovation -- an innovation that completely re-alter markets by destroying existing market incumbents, often by finding ways to beat them on a cost-basis and thus reach customers that were previously unreachable. See our previous articles on disruption.

From the perspective of disruptive theory, free media will make the publishing economy more efficient; in other words, it will allow more wealth to be created, and thus more opportunities for entrepreneurs. But those opportunities will likely not be available to established market incumbents, but rather to underdogs looking to break in. For publishers, I would expect those who do NOT have an audience to best benefit from free media, as it will increase the likelihood they will overcome the biggest obstacle, which is no one knowing who the f you are to begin with.

Some will argue that smaller publishers cannot sufficiently monetize a community, and thus cannot benefit from free media. To the contrary. The revenue potential of a community is not determined by size, but rather by passion. As we've noted before, community-based business models are about share of wallet; they are about getting as much of the customer's wallet as possible. This runs in contrast to the current models, which aim to get as many customers as possible, but only a few dollars from each one. For this reason, I think smaller publishers are actually better suited towards free media and monetization via community; it is often easier for a smaller, independent publisher to obtain a small, cult-like following rather than mainstream, mass market recognition.

In conclusion, this is why it is important for unpopular people to whore themselves out and give away their media for free. It's the only way they can compete!