You know the drill in the job world, in the economy, in the geekonomy. Various experts, who we know are experts because people say they're experts, say that it's time that we all be realistic and take pay cuts, have financial austerity, and in general all give up more. We see this in calls for government cuts, or for people to take lower-paying jobs (as if there are enough jobs to go on), stop collecting unemployment, and so forth.
Media Wars Part 3: How We Got Here
Last column I discussed the fact that the Media Geekonomy is an area of conflict, an Exctraction Economy where different factions are in conflict. Fans want things cheaper, the Support people want to make money and keep their good position, and the Creators of media want money and stability. Their interests don't line up and often end up adverse.
So how did this happen?
Media Wars Part 2: The Situation
I said last column that among the groups participating in the media Geekonomy (Fans, Support, and Creators) that they're all in conflict because they want to get the most they can with comparatively little thought of the future – in short, of sustainability. I referred to this as a kind of Extraction economy – the goal is to get the most of what you can out of a given source of resources.