I think we'll be better served by more small publishers. If they build a brand from quality books in a specific genre then the "gatekeeper" role means something.
I can see more big name authors becoming small publishers. They can sell from their quality name brand and maintain an income when they retire.
I can see more celebrities becoming small publishers. I'm not an Oprah fan but I have read some of the books on her book club list and they are very good. I don't believe that her fans are sheep, they trust her opinion of what is worth reading.
Apple has celebrities play lists and I can see the same thing happening for books. If someone gets enough followers they'll try to sell it.
There was another thread about the Canadian Giller prize and four out of the five finalists were from indie publishers. What I would love to see is contests like this in countries all over the world and then I could pick a couple books from each of them. It's a much more credible "gatekeeper" of literary quality.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/10...ler-shortlist/
http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/...Shortlist.html