
The Coming Death of Independent Podcasting - yarapavan
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/on-the-spotify-joe-rogan-deal-and
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dredmorbius
I'm reading Charles Perrow's 1972 classic _Complex Organizations_ which
discusses both intra- and inter-organisational structure. Stoller's
description of the consolidation of podcasting strikes me as quite similar to
the deconsolidation and reconsolidation of the music industry, in about 1955
and 1962-1973. The golden age of decentralised music production and
distribution lasted less than a decade:

 _After the critical period from about 1956 to 1960, when tastes were
unfrozen, competition was intense, and demand soared, consolidation appeared.
The number of firms stabilized at about forty. New corporate entries appeared,
such as MGM and Warner Brothers, sensing, one supposes, the opportunity that
vastly expanding sales indicated. Some independents grew large. The eight-firm
concentration ratio also stabilized (though not yet the four-firm ratio). The
market became sluggish, however, as the early stars died, were forced into
retirement because of legal problems, or in the notable case of Elvis Presley,
were drafted by an impinging environment. Near the end of this period the
majors decided that the new sounds were not a fad and began to buy up the
contracts of established artists and successfully picked and promoted new
ones, notably The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. A new generation (e.g., The
Beatles) appeared from 1964 to 1969, and sales again soared._

 _But now the concentration ratios soared also. From 1962 to 1973, the four-
firm ratio went from 25 to 51 percent; the eight-firm ratio from 46 to 81
percent, almost back to the pre-1955 levels. The number of different firms
having hits declined from forty-six to only sixteen. Six of the eight giants
were diversified conglomerates, some of which led in the earlier period; one
was a new independent, the other a product of of mergers._

 _How did they do it? The major companies asserted “increasing central control
over the creative process”352 through deliberate creation and extensive
promotion of new groups, long-range contracts for groups, and reduced autonomy
for producers. In addition, legal and illegal promotion costs (drug payola to
disc jockeys, for example) rose in the competitive race and now exceeded the
resources of small independents. Finally, the majors “have also moved to
regain a controlling position in record distribution by buying chains of
retail stores.”353 The diversity is still greater than it had been in the
past, and may remain high, but it is ominous that the majors have all the
segments covered. As an executive said, “Columbia Records will have a major
entry into whatever new area is broached by the vagaries of public tastes.”
But for a concentrated industry, the “vagaries of public tastes” are not
economical; it is preferable to stabilize and consolidate them. This would be
possible through further control over the creative process and marketing._

Charles Perrow, _Complex organizations : a critical essay_ , 1972, pp. 186--
187.

[https://archive.org/details/complexorganizat00perr/page/186/...](https://archive.org/details/complexorganizat00perr/page/186/mode/2up)

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/complex-organizations-a-
criti...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/complex-organizations-a-critical-
essay/oclc/979139067)

Decentralisation is a frequently expressed goal of Web technologies, but so
long as there is an available point of control, and a means to assert
exclusive relationships or ownership, centralised control will reestablish
itself, and the commons will again be enclosed.

Perrow's description in the next few paragraphs of the production side of
music, and the various distribution of risks amongst headline performers,
agents, labels, printing facilities, retail outlets, radio, and side
musicians, seems to me to have direct correspondences to much of the consumer-
facing (and business-services) Web-startup world.

Recommended reading.

(I've expanded somewhat on this comment, implicating as well Doc Searls:
[https://joindiaspora.com/posts/780b1c807dc50138887d002590d8e...](https://joindiaspora.com/posts/780b1c807dc50138887d002590d8e506))

