Gonna get myself connected

We are living in a connected world where nobody is in charge. You are either in the circle of sharing and collaborating or you are outside of it shouting for attention.


But we have been there before. Zip back a few thousand years to the decline of the Roman Empire another example of one great centralised power that eventually lost complete control as parts of its mighty empire disintegrated and people ‘did their own thing’.

So what will the future hold? How will traditional companies make money? How do advertisers advertise if they continue to just shout blindly at the marketplace?

The answer becomes clear when you look at the cultural habits of your children, how they file share and will not pay for individual property copyright. In the future all content will be ‘free’ that is you will not be expected to pay per download. You will though pay to receive that content and advertising will be tailored and filtered toward you as an individual consumer so it has a personal value to you.

Where does that all place traditional broadcasters? In the fire with their toes burning IF they do not change. In the past you didn’t get a choice - you either watched BBC 1, 2 or ITV or you didn’t watch TV. Now it’s even hard to define what TV is. Is it You Tube? Is it the 300 channels you get through satellite? Is it the ITunes show you are watching on your phone right now?

If I want something I just join the mutual circle of sharing and I get it. I do not need the big players to be involved. If they want to charge me for some of their content I do not need them in my circle anymore, so they can scream and shout in the corner OR join the circle and provide the service and make their money through the collaborative process rather than the individual content.

So this is a website (www.CreativeRadio.com) that celebrates all things radio. Where will radio be in 10 years time? I am an optimist I think there will be mass media radio and television – we will just consume it in different ways and there will be different ways of marketing and making money from it. …What those ways will be I just wish I could predict because there is a great deal of money to made from living in a connected world.