Nokia conducted a large study and is predicting that by 2012, 25% of all entertainment will not come from the major movie and music studios, but will have been created within one's peer group. Is the end of traditional media finally in sight?

I consider myself to be a hybrid media consumer. Yes, I download music and movies digitally via the Internet, but I also still go to local media outlets and purchase CDs and DVDs. In fact, most new music I buy is in CD form. Why? Because I am a snob and want the best quality, and MP3s and other compressed formats often don't cut it. This is a dying distribution model, however, and Nokia is predicting big changes ahead.

Not just in how we get our entertainment, but who actually creates it.

Nokia's recent study, entitled "A Glimpse of the Next Episode," carried out by The Future Laboratory, interviewed trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviors and lifestyles signposting emerging entertainment trends. Combining views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world, Nokia has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years.

"From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call 'Circular'. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups -- a form of collaborative social media," said Mark Selby, Nokia's VP of multimedia, in a prepared statement.

This is happening already. For the MySpace generation, it is how new bands are getting their music out there and growing their fan base. I am a performer in my local New Jersey open-mike circuit. Many of the other musicians I meet are recording their music at home and posting it to the Internet to share with their family and friends. (Same goes with budding Spielbergs via YouTube.) I have to say, I enjoy being able to support my local businesses, and that stretches to musicians and other creative people. In fact, a growing portion of my music library is content is created by local performers.

To read more about changing entertainment purchasing patterns, and add your $0.02, visit the InformationWeek Blog.

Eric Zeman
eric@zemanmedia.com
www.informationweek.com

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