New digital technologies are creating a crisis in the business models of the companies that depend on having a monopoly on distribution. Look at MP3 blogs: We're now seeing bands that are saying, "Please pirate my material. Here it is." They make money from that. They get bookings from that. They build an audience on that.

There's also Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia written by volunteers. It has 500,000 articles in 50 languages at virtually no cost, vs. Encyclopedia Britannica spending millions of dollars and they have 50,000 articles.

From my prospective, the threat is also an opportunity. There are many start-ups today that understand the points above very well and are building new business models around them. It won't be long until these companies are head-to-head with old, slow and stuck in their ways companies who may find themselves with an outdated business model and a ship that's too slow to turn around in time. This will be fun to watch.