When a scarce thing turns abundant, power shifts to its complement: whatever sits beside it and stays hard to get.
The record and the live show
Recorded music used to be the whole business. You bought the record, the cassette, the compact disc.
Then it went nearly free. Streaming pays fractions of a cent, and the album became the thing you give away to sell something else.
The money moved next door, to the one thing that stayed scarce: the live show. A ticket to be in the room on the night.
Artists now earn their living on tour, and the record is the flyer.
Source: the original LinkedIn post, published 12 October 2026.
One law, three times
The live show is the third case this month:
- Product got cheap, so distribution won.
- Content got cheap, so attention won.
- Records got cheap, so the live show won.
The AI moat guide covers the four layers around a rented AI model: corpus, structure, harness, and controls.
Why the old winner stays stuck
The company that was best at the old, now-cheap thing is usually the one that stays stuck. The reason is built into how it is set up.
The skill that made it win is the exact muscle it let go soft, because something covered for it:
- A record label that owned pressing and shelf space stayed weak at building a direct relationship with fans.
- A startup that bought its growth with cheap money for a decade stayed weak at earning real reach.
The subsidy did the job for years, so the muscle went slack. When the subsidy ended, it was gone.
Own the complement early
Watch for the thing about to get cheap. Then go own its complement early. It is the part that takes years, and a fat budget only gets you there slowly.
Two questions for your own work: what are you best at that is about to get cheap? And what sits right next to it that will stay hard to get?
The AI Dial guide marks where a person still decides when machine output is the cheap thing. The AI governance guide covers what the vendor contract lets the tool keep.
Run the test on your own work
Name the thing your business is best at.
Ask whether that thing is about to get cheap.
Name the complement beside it that stays hard to get.
Find the muscle a subsidy has been covering for.
Start owning the complement now. It takes years.
Next step
Bring one product or skill from your own business and talk it through in a 30-minute call.
Book a 30-minute call →Related reading
Written by Sushant Pasumarty
DPDP consultant. Founder, Meridian Bridge Strategy. This page began as field notes from live client work.