the agony & ecstasy of insouciant meme merchants

In light of recent BossFeed news, this apocalyptic take from The Atlantic serves as a kind of release valve on the biggest fears hovering over media all year, i.e.: What If We Still Haven’t Solved The Issue of How To Make Money In Media?

Because of course, no one has cracked the code yet, and *sips chamomile gingerly* reading into the goings-on of a few big players as the weather vane for an entire industry at least makes for a good excuse to use the phrase “insouciant meme merchants.” BUT, if you’re going to take away anything from the piece, it’s this:

“Doom is coming for companies that relied on an unlimited supply of VC money floating them until they cracked a nonexistent code to advertising. Something far less than doom is coming for companies that balanced cost and revenue while experimenting with various forms of direct advertising, events, subscriptions, and memberships.”

Tl;dr, multiple revenue streams (an impressive way to say MANY WAYS TO MAKE THE MONEY) isn’t just #hip anymore, it’s the stakes of survival. It’s a golden age for storytelling, for sure, but also for the actual business models making it all possible. Who’s got some ideas??

Like Deez Links? Forward to a photobombing Huma.