Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Whatever their reasons are for doing it, the result is beneficial for the consumer.
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Indeed. A good example of this is the netlabel. In the era of millions of free tracks across the internet, it's wonderful to find a curated location for EP's under a particular genre or concept with a particular layer of professionalism. Publishers may get chopped up into its various parts (marketing and editing most of all) but the collection aspect is going to remain important in a networked world.
And as for the state of the gatekeeper, Amazon seems like a much scarier form, as much as they'd like to deny they are one. Oh, sure, they'll include you in their massive bookstore...if you give them what they want, at razor-thin margins, with no information and potentially extra demanded money on top of that. This is all according to the article, which has a fair amount of evidence behind it. The "publishers as gatekeeper" concept is worrisome, but at least they have competition and alternatives.