Structured Viral Communications: The Political Economy and Social Organization of Digital Disintermediation

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 16 I. THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF STRUCTURED VIRAL COMMUNICATIONS .................................................................... 19 A. Viral Communications Overwhelms Centralized Communications .................................................................. 19 B. The Challenges and Advantages of Structured Viral Organizations ....................................................................... 21 II. DIGITAL DISINTERMEDIATION IN THE MUSIC SECTOR ........ 22 A. The Tight Oligopoly in the Physical Music Business ............ 25 1. Collusion on Price ............................................................ 25 2. Anti-Consumer Bundling ................................................ 28 B. The Emergence of a Digital Music Business .......................... 30 1. The Transaction Cost Transformation ............................ 30 2. The Artists’ View .............................................................. 31 3. The Welfare Economics of the New Industry ................. 37 C. Extensions of Digital Economics to Other Sectors ................ 38 1. Newspapers ....................................................................... 38 2. Book publishing ................................................................ 38 3. Video ................................................................................. 40 4. Avoiding the Nightmare on Elm Street ........................... 41 III. POLITICAL ACTION AND THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION .......................................................................... 47 A. The Magnitude of Change ..................................................... 48 B. The Internal Structure of the Structured Viral Organization Model ............................................................. 49