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As the internet and other content distribution platforms continue to experience phenomenal growth, people using traditional forms of distribution face a challenge.

A few weeks  back, we blogged about Prince's royal proclamation about the end of internet. Histrionics aside, he was simply admitting that the internet (peer to peer networks, download sites) posed a big threat to the music world's traditional forms of delivery (CD).

In the book world, where paper/hardbacks rake in millions, new forms of distribution such as e-readers (Amazon's Kindle, the Sony Reader, and Ipad*) are denting revenue sales for some traditional book publishers.

Is there a place for traditional publishing? Are traditional books dead? Marketing guru and writer vowed recently he will never publish a traditional book.

His reason: "I like the people, but I can't abide the long wait, the filters, the big push at launch, the nudging to get people to go to a store they don't usually visit to buy something they don't usually buy, to get them to pay for an idea in a form that's hard to spread ... I really don't think the process is worth the effort that it now takes to make it work."

Godin, who has published 12 'traditional' books, goes on to make a great point.

"I can reach 10 or 50 times as many people electronically."

That, if anything, is the crux of the matter. Whatever content distribution you use, does it allow you to reach more people, perhaps with fewer resources.

If the digital age has taught us anything, it is the absolute necessity of plural platforms. Distributing on one channel or platform is not enough anymore!

How are you responding to the new challenges posed by evolving content distribution platforms?

* The Ipad is more than just an e-reader.