The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago this month taught me firsthand why revolution is simultaneously impossible as well as inevitable. In 1986, I sat with other students from around the globe just blocks from the wall and debated whether it would ever come down. The naïve among us insisted freedom was imperative: It was inevitable. The others asked if we had stopped to think about the massive relocation of people, economic resources, and government structures that such a revolution would require: It was impossible.

Until it happened, just three years later.

Such is the content industry’s less political but equally momentous dilemma.

Walls are crumbling on every side. At Forrester, we call this the Media Meltdown, and though we’ve been documenting its slow dissolve for some time, it’s high time we declare that 1989 is upon us. We have to actively tear the wall down rather than watch value continue to trickle out around the edges.

We recently published a report called How To Rebuild The Media Industries, in which we issue this call. We’re no Reagan, but we issue the call with the same clarity: Stop building value on your supposed content and distribution monopolies because digital economics have forever reduced barriers to competitive entry. Publishers and producers, someone else can make that content for less money. Networks and distributors, someone else can package and bundle the content more efficiently. And movie theaters, retailers, cable networks – anyone who delivers content – there are new alternatives to you popping up every day.

Some will dispense with analog assets in one fell swoop as Conde Nast did with Gourmet. Others will whittle assets down to the bone like Disney (NYSE: DIS)
did to Miramax. And some will cut as much internal fat as possible while keeping up external appearances, as Newsweek has done.

And that’s just the internal wrangling over budgets. When you serve external customers, you’ll change what, how, and when you distribute content. Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures will stream Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to owners of Sony Bravia connected TVs before it’s available on DVD. This is just one example of how to seize the economic advantage that comes from serving consumers at a new, digital level of convenience. You’ll have to embrace the devices consumers embrace – connected TVs, smartphones and e-readers – offering content as a service that spans multiple platforms, and charging for the convenience of easy access to what you provide.

In the last two months I have been on the road presenting our view to dozens of clients and to others in larger, less private settings. Some chirp that this is all obvious and inevitable, why do we even bother to write about it? Others squawk that we can’t possibly be serious – have we never stopped to consider how impossible such a massive relocation of labor, assets, and economic value is? To the former, I applaud your naiveté and welcome your bold moves in the market. To the latter, I encourage you to learn your history lesson. Those who rebuild now will still be here to discuss the finer points of the digital transition 10 years from now. Those who do not, will not.

James McQuivey is a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, where he serves Consumer Product Strategy professionals and contributes to the Forrester blog focused on that area.