Dear Gatekeeper:
We no longer require your services. While we all acknowledge the important contributions that you have made—and the ones you will continue to make—you are not keeping up with the times. There are a lot of talented artists out there. You are missing out on thousands of them.
If this was a lack of competency, we could forgive it. Gatekeepers make mistakes, just like anyone. But these are not mere mistakes. Your core philosophy is stuck in a loop. Your goal is to maintain Old World margins, but the world has changed around you. In the Shift to Digital, creatives got new channels, and consumers got more power. You used to own the channels; you used to have the power.
Instead of embracing this and using it to your advantage—you panicked. You went straight back to your Old World tactics. You litigated against your own customers, you put up paywalls, and you set up rules that inhibit the flow of content. All of these are meant to serve yourself, not the creatives who produce value, nor the consumers who pay for it.
The simple fact is that you now extract more value than you produce. If you don’t get in line and recalibrate the balance sheet to give up some of your astronomical margins, market forces will do it for you.
Please find a way to keep doing what you are doing. When you get it right, it’s a beautiful thing. As your power wanes, however, you’re going to have fewer and fewer chances to get it right.
Sincerely,
Everyone
P.S. For more on this, please see my article: The Gatekeeper is Guessing (includes a podcast, too).
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