Same thing happened in the record business.  Huh?  Distribution widened and the traditional players lost their stronghold, lost their power.  The paradigm shifted and the big money turned out to be in the niches as opposed to playing to the mainstream.  Well, not exactly.  GaGa is still wildly profitable, like "American Idol".  But losing at the mainstream game is incredibly costly.  Yup, it costs a fortune to play.  You ramp up to reach everybody and if you don’t??  Notice how fast they cancel network TV shows these days? Isn’t that a reason not to go with the major label?  If they spend all that money and don’t have quick success, they’re going to move on to another one of their expensive priorities.

Used to be there were six major labels.  And they controlled the distribution channel.  You might be able to get into the store as an indie, but getting paid was hell.  Just look at the four majors today.  They’re owed gazillions by retailers.  And there are fewer of them and they’ve got less power than ever before.  Blame digital.  An iTunes world where any punter can make a deal with Tunecore and offer their wares for sale.  And maybe nobody buys them, but enough people are buying enough niche product to depress sales of mainstream product.  In other words, network TV ratings were hammered by cable.

Does Conan O’Brien reach as many people as before?  No way.  Does he make as much money as before?  No way.  But do his fans care that he’s on TBS instead of NBC?  No way!  It’s only oldsters who feel locked to the networks at the end of the dial. Younger people see the whole cable universe as a smorgasbord, there’s no difference between channel 28 and channel 2.  And oldsters are enamored of HBO, oftentimes in HD way up the spectrum.  So, a low channel number means something, but no longer everything.  Just like price and positioning at Best Buy and Wal-Mart still mean something, but less, especially in a digital universe.

Think we’ve got chaos in the TV world?  It’s even worse in music.  There’s a limit with TV, Comcast, et al, can only beam out so many channels, in music, the universe is unlimited.

But Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are stars on cable.  To the younger generation, they are Letterman and Leno.  And who inherits the championship belt when the two L’s retire?  Mmm…  Seems like the Comedy Channel guys.

And the Comedy Channel guys win online.  They’ve got the best linkability.  That’s the problem with network, especially Leno, they play it safe.  That doesn’t work too well online, where edgy and honest rules.  Conan can use the Web to truly spread his brand.  His great pieces can get exposure online to the point where the TV is gravy.  Hell, many people don’t even watch Stewart and Colbert at their appointed times.  They catch the rerun the next day, or DVR it.  Television is a changed universe.  And so is music.