Comments on: There Will Be Disintermediation

By: AmazonEncore Is Amazon’s First Step Toward Dominating Publishing | Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

Sun, 17 May 2009 10:01:21 +0000

[...] effectively wrests control of the entire value chain. (Authors, if you don’t know what disintermediation is as it relates to publishing, you should and yes, we will talk about the very last paragraph in that blog article soon). Like [...]

By: Another copyright reshuffle that’s in the cards - The Shatzkin Files

Another copyright reshuffle that’s in the cards - The Shatzkin Files — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:11:52 +0000

[...] Schnittman at Black Plastic Glasses posted the final chunk of a 3-parter yesterday that contained a real shocker (to me) at the end. The 3-part post shows through [...]

By: The Daily Square - Rockin’ of the Ten Thousand Edition | Booksquare

The Daily Square - Rockin’ of the Ten Thousand Edition | Booksquare — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:32:08 +0000

[...] There Will Be DisintermediationEvan Schnittman looks at the messes and possibilities we’re facing, and asks what happens on January 1, 2013. Will there be disintermediation? [...]

By: Gary Arms

Gary Arms — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:43:32 +0000

As someone who teaches the Online Generation, I think it will happen the way it did with music and the way it is now happening with movies and TV shows. People with no ownership stake will put content on line so that others can “share” it. And so the dike will be breached. I agree completely with Evan’s analysis of the Online Generation and his prediction that they will increasingly ignore anything not in the cloud. Anyone who teaches knows it is increasingly difficult to get students to read books. There is a small but significant young audience for books, but a distressingly large portion of the younger generation will not read entire books unless required to do so by professors. When the online generation does research, they do it almost entirely online. Publishers and authors will continue to squabble. Again, I agree with Evan’s analysis; they will never come to general agreement. Meanwhile, the cloud will expand, gobbling up everything that exists in digital form. In music, it appears that artists will continue to make money but most of their revenue will come from live performance, the sale of tee shirts etc. To a considerable degree, the music industry has lost control of its product. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” The success of Hulu suggests that TV and movies can make money selling ads on their own site, a site that is easy to use, reliable and free of viruses. A huge amount of print (especially periodicals) is already on line; the magazines sell ad space too. This is the single most important problem facing all content providers. The future will belong to those able to adapt to the new environment.