Akkam’s Razor

The internet, and the processes, applications, and technologies that have followed have been both pervasive and disruptive.  For much of the modern world, the internet HAS changed everything, from how we communicate, learn, and connect to others to how we are entertained.  How could those those be combined for the best outcome?

Cottage industries have grown up around the internet, attempting to do the same thing as other mediums have done in other industries.  As a historical example, music was initially created by composers and performed by music professionals, who paid royalties to said composers.  When the player piano debuted, it had quite the disruptive effect for the performers, yet benefited the composers.  This ultimately led to a compromise benefiting both, however not quite equally.  You can expand the metaphor out to include the record player, the cassette tape, the compact disc, and now to the MP3.  Each one of these conveyed certain benefits and risks, but usually resulting in new life for an old product - music.  Each one was just a new manner of conveyance, one that often required the end user to replace their collections to follow new formats, requiring them lock-in to technologies, constraining their opportunities and options.  Furthermore, there are various parasites to the music business beyond the composer and/or performers, such as record labels, the RIAA, promoters, industry lawyers, and retailers.  Enter the internet.

Suddenly, the complex network required to navigate the music business became irrelavent.  Artists were no longer dependent on the critical mass, legitimacy, and leverage of the labels for position on the shelves and slots on the radio airplay rotation.  A band with a loyal fan base can trust their listeners to be evangelist for the band, promoting them via their own webpages or social networking services.  And most savagely, the record store become irrelavent - it is far easier to audition a song online and buy it (or steal it).  Which in turn leads to more fans, and the cycle repeats.  Whereas previous innovation added money while adding value, the new economy will still add value, however, these new technologies have ravaged the parasitic middlemen, and made the path from creator to consumer much more direct and intimate.