More Power Over Middlemen
15th February 2011
What’s fascinating (and wonderful) to see today is how the changing marketplace means that the actual content creators are in control. This doesn’t mean the death of middlemen — not by a long shot. There’s still a huge role for middlemen to play — but it’s as enablers, not gatekeepers. In a world with enablers, the content creators are still the ones in control. The middlemen become supporting players. This is why I always find it funny when those who support the old system claim that they’re the ones “helping” creative types. But that’s clearly not the case. What they’re helping are the gatekeeper middlemen, who have done everything possible to pressure content creators into bad deals because they had no other choice. These days, thanks to the wider choices enabled by the internet, content creators are able to restack the pyramid and put themselves in control, with middlemen actually helping, rather than capturing all of the value.