Objects. Experiences. Data.

or, a half formed shower thought.

In the past, broadly speaking, artists presented their work to the world, and provided revenue for themselves (or the companies who were marketing/distributing their work) in one of two ways: as objects you owned, or experiences you had. These weren't mutually exclusive, of course, as you could have the experience of the live show and then own the object of the album.

Objects - books, albums, videotapes, and their progeny - were receptacles of data.

Now, data has been liberated from objects. And so the possible markets become: objects, experiences, data. The consumer preferences multiply (some people prefer books as receptacles of their writing data; others prefer e-books). Niches that are largely about experience (live music, theatre, etc) are largely unchanged. Those that are about objects as transmission devices for data are transformed completely.

This is probably a really obvious analysis, but I've never thought of it quite that way before. And I'm convinced that somewhere, lurking in there, is a revelation about the future.

If you find it, let me know.