The Mgazine,Book and Newspaper Distribution Industry..A Thought

I came across a pretty good read concerning single copy sales ( newsstand) and the magazine and book distribution business from Folio. Here is the link:

http://www.foliomag.com/2010/no-cap-yet-newsstand-well

What strikes me is what is not mentioned, digital or the effect e-readers such as I Pad and Amazon/Kindel is having on distribution. I am convinced that the magazine,book and newspaper distribution industry is currently in the throws of classic "creative destruction". Much like the manufacturers of wagon wheels, ice boxes, radio tubes, etc..have gone through.

We need only to look at the music industry. Think 8-Track, casets and yes CD's. Physical distribution of content is becoming obsolete. Who would of thought that ten years ago  I-Tunes would be the largest retailer of music in the world. Just last month Amazon announced the sale of digital books has surpassed traditional printed books.

While that may seem dire, I contend it is just the opposite and represents great opportunity. Amazon and Apple will soon realize that it simply does not make good business sense to be dealing with hundreds perhaps thousands of publishers,authors and distributors. I would assume while both companies are large enough and technologically savoy enough to accommodate such relationships, the question remains why would they want to? Herein lies the opportunity, perhaps one of the major national distributors,or even wholesales approach Amazon,Apple etc, with the intention of becoming their exclusive distributor. YES, treat them just like a large retailer. Chances are both companies are already floating this idea around at least internally. My guess is they will emulate the book store model and deem five or six distributors as authorized distributors and all publishers, authors etc will have to deal with them.So why doesn't the industry "beat them to the punch" and pursue the concept with Apple and Amazon. A CO-OP perhaps ( ie: Ingram, Curtis, Source Interlink)

Think of the benefits, the only aspect of the business model for a distributor that changes is the physical distribution of product, marketing, sales, client relations and financial relations remain the same. Distributors are the experts, not Amazon, not Apple. Both those companie know that. Think of it as calling on a large Walmart.

Of course technology will need to improve to be more friendly to advertisers and to photo or art related titles, but that will come, not doubt soon.

Partner with Amazon and Apple for the benefit of all, makes sense to the distributors, publishers, authors and retailers. I think if the industry does not, they will be forced to in time or cut out completely.

Just a thought...