6 ideas
A chokepoint forms when an intermediary positions itself as the narrow waist of an hourglass, with many creators on one side and many audiences on the other, so that all transactions must pass through it. Once both sides are locked in, the intermediary can squeeze each: it raises prices or degrades service for audiences and cuts payments to creators, and it keeps the difference.
Giving creators more rights does not raise their pay when they must bargain with a concentrated buyer. The buyer simply requires creators to sign those rights over as a condition of access. Expanding copyright therefore acts like giving a bullied kid more lunch money: the extra value flows straight to whoever controls the chokepoint.
Audible requires DRM on every audiobook it sells, even when the author or publisher objects. Customers who build large libraries cannot move them to a rival player without abandoning their purchases. The rising switching cost is the tool Amazon then uses to impose terms on authors and narrators, including exclusivity and returns clawed back from royalties.
The book shifts attention from monopoly, where one seller harms consumers, to monopsony, where one buyer harms suppliers. A firm with buyer power can drive down what it pays creators while keeping consumer prices low or flat. Because of this, conventional consumer-welfare antitrust fails to detect the harm at all.
Major labels took equity stakes in Spotify and negotiated favorable terms for themselves, while the pro-rata payout pool and low per-stream rates left most artists with tiny sums. Features such as discount-for-placement programs and commissioned 'ghost artist' tracks further divert listening, and the money that follows it, away from independent musicians.
The proposed fixes aim to widen the chokepoint rather than hand creators more property rights. They include mandated interoperability and anti-DRM measures that lower switching costs, transparency rights, minimum-wage-style floors for creative work, 'use it or lose it' reversion of rights, and sectoral collective bargaining and cooperatives.