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We are just starting to learn how powerful a force the Internet is in displacing traditional structures and forms. One idea is that the value of media (films, books, music) that exists outside the mainstream is greater than the mainstream has long been understood; the problem has been tapping it. With technology such as massive databases, storage and recommendation engines, the power of Wired Magazine calls the "Long Tail" is now being unleashed. Retailers like Amazon and rental stores like Netflix are reconfiguring the idea of choice- they are exposing consumers to new ideas that transcend those that exist in the mainstream. Unknown authors, bands and low-budget movies have the opportunity to compete for attention in a system that's a little more of a meritocracy, with quality having the chance to compete with marketing budgets. Positive word of mouth can catapult a quality idea from the underground to the "mid-stream" fairly quickly.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

What's interesting is that established and well-promoted properties have a huge value as anchors. They connect you to new ideas that exist underneath the surface. It's likely that movies studios, record companies and publishers will in the future want to unlock some of this value. If the author signed for $10million leads consumers to authors of other publishers or Led Zeppelin's style introduces you to another band and unlike traditional retail, it can be tracked, the publisher or record company might be able to realize a small return. So perhaps media properties will be selling two things in the future; the concept itself and the idea of the concept that can be linked to others; a series of meta tags, algorithms and search terms that can be brought and sold like ads on Google.

It's a scary concept because it removes the idea of an independent third party that makes supposed impartial suggestions and creates yet another advertising market.