05 Oct 2004
Say Goodbye to Tyranny of Hits

This is decidely a "good news - bad news" kind of story. It's technologically driven, of course, and it's way too late to put that genie back in his bottle, even if we wanted.

The good news is that we won't be continually force fed the same material that Hollywood (and a small set of prolific authors) pushes out. We will have a choice, and minor artists of all stripes will flourish.

The bad news is that we won't be continually force fed the same material that Hollywood (and a small set of prolific authors) pushes out. We will have a choice, and minor artists of all stripes will flourish.

On some level it is continuity and consistancy in the arts that defines a culture. And on some level "exploitation of niche markets" is to economics what "Balkinization" is in politics. Once the collective power of the niche kills off the mainstream, watch out!

Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bit stream. By Chris Anderson from Wired magazine.

(link) [Wired News]

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