Media companies, while fighting against social platforms, are exposing what their value in the ecosystem actually is; being an agency & platform for creators. The role of a media company will mimic that of record labels; real value as operators, not as a voice. What do I mean? /1
People say media cos are going away, or that we just have too many media cos (I'm one of them!). The volume is the exact reason why there isn't enough ad $ and soon won't be enough sub $ to go around. It's not that these models don't work, there just are too many platforms. /2
The problem is, it's hard to create new revenue streams. Isolating your value to a brand or consumer is limiting, & making it interoperable means forfeiting exclusivity & ownership. Also, many don't have the opportunity to take these risks. But a model as operator works. Why? /3
The value of labels in music is real. Artist recruitment (A&R), copyright enforcement, distribution, booking, accounting, marketing... a lot. While challenged often, many artists realize this benefit because it's acknowledged by the labels. Media cos should take this approach /4
We're entering further into new consumer value of reputation on creator/writer/producer > reputation on brand in the media space. The value for a consumer isn't as much a brand (BuzzFeed, HuffPost, etc.) than it is the writer/creator for that brand. /5
This is why social platforms have encroached so successfully into advertising, subscriptions and now, original content. They're identifying their value as operator, and enabling creators to create while also earning the reputation & cred of their work /6
In music, no one thinks of the label as the reputation aka the reason the consumer is listening. It's the artists. The artists carry the attention, the audience and the labels handle the rest. The same needs to be owned, acknowledged and invested in by media companies /7
If media cos position as operators, distributors & managers of "talent", new models emerge, new values emerge and a definition of value is reborn. Attract and manage talent, distribution, accounting...everything. There won't be 1000s but the ones that do it right, will succeed /8
I'm the first to admit media cos as a term is over generalized & there are major nuances between news verticals & others, as well as VR/AR/all the R's. But if we can identify the problems (too many media cos, not enough $) & the values (management, distro, etc) new ideas emerge /
Also, the below is an important additive on my generalization of labels that's important to recognize and that I overlooked. The value of brand as curators of "taste": blog.aweissman.com/2012/04/media-… via @aweissman 
