Controlling Distribution

The internet revolution has been on us now for 10 years. It has changed the way we communicate, share information, apply for jobs, get our news, and obtain music. Why has the internet been such a revolution. Commenting on the impact of blogs to the publishing industry, Business Week writes

The printing press set the model for mass media. A lucky handful owns the publishing machinery and controls the information. Whether at newspapers or global manufacturing giants, they decide what the masses will learn. This elite still holds sway at most companies. You know them. They generally park in sheltered spaces, have longer rides on elevators, and avoid the cafeteria. They keep the secrets safe and coif the company's message. Then they distribute it -- usually on a need-to-know basis -- to customers, employees, investors, and the press.

This is the key. In the world before the publicly accessible internet, every major industry had a select handful of businesses that controlled the industry's product. In particular, they controlled the distribution of that product, which gave them control of the industry. The flow of news was controlled by the major TV networks and a handful of wire services. The music industry labels controlled the distribution of music. The movie studios controlled the distribution of movies.

The internet changed all that. Distribution of any electronic data is completely decentralized so that no one controls it. Furthermore, global distribution comes at the cost of an internet connection. Anyone can be a distributor. This is most famously seen in the music realm, where the so-called file swapping networks represent an uncontrolled distribution network for music that allow fans to get whatever they want, whenever they want it. Musicians can now distribute their music globally at little cost and without the need sign away control to a record label. With blogging systems, bloggers like myself can potentially reach a global audience without having to sign away control of their writing to some syndication network, wire service, or newspaper. Anyone can have the same reach as the New York Times, while working in their pajamas and retaining total control over their output. As Business Week wrote,

Look at it this way: In the age of mass media, publications like ours print the news. Sources try to get quoted, but the decision is ours. Ditto with letters to the editor. Now instead of just speaking through us, they can blog. And if they master the ins and outs of this new art -- like how to get other bloggers to link to them -- they reach a huge audience.

Established industries have been struggling to acclimate themselves to this new world, and it has been an awkward process. Witness the embarrassments that have befallen the news industry at the hands of bloggers, or the struggles of the music business to adjust to a world where fans get their music for free. This revolution has not yet ended. Many industries are still operating in the model set out by the printing press. But they will have to endure the same struggles the news and music businesses are enduring now.