In digital environments the transaction costs for publishing, distribution, logistics and administration has fallen dramatically. It is not so much about big trucks distributing tons of material to thousands of outlets than about paperless trails and automatized logistics. Many forms of cultural production have been democratized with widely accessible tools and independent producers can benefit from digital scaling effects. Social networks and recommendation systems unseat the dominant powers of industry marketing campaigns and mass media. While traditional roles of cultural gatekeepers have become outdated, there is a need for new intermediaries that do not function as privatizers of social surplus, but as partners of independent cultural producers.

Tags