Consumers Become Producers in the New Media World

Doc Searls writes of the scenario now being enabled by Apple which will turn consumers into producers and forever shift the method through which consumers consume and producers produce. At the recent Macworld show, Steve Jobs introduced a product called GarageBand, which is basically a production studio in a box, complete with electronic producer and sample music tracks, that,along with other applications, Doc Searls thinks will radically alter how entertainment in produced.

What Apple's doing with 'i' apps like GarageBand isn't about the computer industry; it's about the entertainment industry. That industry lately has become vigilant about threats from its customers, which it still thinks of as consumers. Instead it should be watching how Apple transforms those consumers into producers. Because the next challenge will be finding ways to turn those producers into partners. The old gig is up. They'll never be just 'consumers' again

Dan Gillmor has similar thoughts and touches on how MoveOn.org and others have capitalized on "democratized" the creation of marketing.

Sick of Britney Spears? Check out bandyou'veneverheardof.com. Hate reality TV? Go to juliemakestvshows.com. Given the right tools and the Internet as a publishing platform, scenarios such as those Searls and Gillmor allude to could certainly become reality.