Hunting Killer Trends

An increasingly digitized world makes it easier for artists and fans to have direct relationships, without the labels taking their cut. Artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have seen the writing on that wall, releasing albums themselves, online, to varying degrees of financial success. These are the early days of what may be a new paradigm for media.

The emergence of social networking sites like Facebook could be the biggest disruptive influence of all. A few keystrokes and mouse clicks now let people spread the word about cutting-edge artists and events to hundreds of others in seconds. In turn, all of those people have the ability to share that news with their friends, too. This ever-increasing free flow of information among consumers and creators could become the greatest threat to old-school media companies' marketing-driven business models.

As often and vehemently as they've resisted innovation in the past, I seriously wonder how today's media companies can survive in the face of digital delivery. Perhaps many of them shouldn't.

What do you think about digital distribution trends? Which companies will get wiped out by this paradigm shift? Which are most likely to survive? Are there even more disruptive innovations on the way? Will companies like Apple and Google be able to keep on innovating?