Many traditional powers-that-be are under attack. Consider the following:

• Until the late 1990s, releasing an album meant selling your soul to one of very few record companies with the power to reach the masses.
• Independent filmmakers faced enormous uphill battles in getting their movies made–and seen. Although Kevin Smith of Clerks fame charged nearly $28,000 on credit cards to get the film out, countless other writers and creative types played the waiting game.
• Many aspiring authors waited for publishers and/or agents to choose them. There just was no other choice.

Now, video-editing software and devices make it easy to bypass the gatekeepers. A Korean filmmaker made a movie with an iPhone 4. Self-published rock stars like Amanda Hocking are selling hundreds of thousands of books via Amazon.com. Established musicians like Prince are striking creative deals to get their music to the masses, bypassing record companies. Many other bands use other innovative and non-traditional means to reach their audiences, all without a proper record deal.

There are those that wish that things would return to a more “normal” time. That’s not happening anytime soon.

Are you a part of the future or the past?