TREotM: The History of Media Revenue Models Continued

The Revolutionary Evolution of the Media is a book in progress Go here to read previous chaptersIn the beginning of this sort of detailed outline of the history of media monetization wasnamp8217t the pointamp160 In case you forgot hereamp8217s a reviewWay way back communication was primarily local amp8230 or onetoone or onetofew a family unit for example or the beginnings of a tribal unitamp160 How far backamp160 Well about 80K to 100K years ago in the early years of homo sapiensamp160 That original symbol representing some part of the grunts developed into language amp8230 both spoken and writtenamp160 By 3500 BC the root language of the Western World ProtoIndoEuropean or PIE was in use along with a wider variety of tongues across Asia and the notyetofficiallydiscovered New Worldamp160 And like most developments in history commerce which included both nomadic hunting and early farming drove the development of the next stepsEarly mankind was already socially active communally active and using tool and fireamp160 Next step was what to do with the communicating amp8230Communal activities such as storytelling song and lecture really information transfer were amp8220freeamp8221 until more of a semblance of civilization developed and some story tellers singers and selfappointed or designated gurus including priests shaman and other religiousoriented individuals and groups began in effect performing in exchange for some sort of compensationamp160 That early compensation consisted mostly of bartered goods or servicesamp160 The goods included food clothing animals plots of land and moreamp160 The services included shelter and deference or worshipThatamp8217s how it startedAll results of literacy and commerceActors and singers performed for compensation amp8230 and still doamp160 Copyright of course was way in the futureamp160 amp160Who might have been first we donamp8217t knowamp160 Or more specifically I couldnamp8217t find any clues after a couple weeks of searchingguessing amp8230 but likely happened a very long time ago circa 3500 BC about the time writing developed in Egypt Sumeria Mesoamerica and a little later in Chinaamp160 Barter persisted for centuries with amp8220moneyamp8221 showing up around the fourth millennium BC Silver bars of a certain weight were used in Mesopotamia gold bars showed in Egypt soon afterAbout the time some entertainers demanded and got compensation the idea of a patron supporting an artist or entertainer took hold around the worldamp160 The jester the sculptor the bard and so on became common examplesModern ideas such as subscriptions and advertisements came a lot lateramp160 Patrons and members of court dominated until civilization made its next great steps as commerce began to dominateamp160 How subscriptions grew is nextNext week Chapter 14 Part 2The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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TREotM: The History of Media Revenue Models Continued

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