Amazon’s growing reach should alarm us
Company makes it difficult for other businesses to work
It has been awhile since I’ve checked in on what Amazon is up to.
It’s important to keep an eye on Amazon, because it is hard to underestimate the amount of power the company exerts over American life. While the economy as a whole is down millions of jobs, Amazon as a company added over 400,000 workers to its rolls in 2020. Profits have soared. Amazon also has the largest share of the market for web services, meaning a huge number of the websites we use every day are on the company’s platform.
Amazon Studios, which came into existence a mere decade ago, just earned 12 Academy Award nominations.
In a 2013 book, Amazon was dubbed “The Everything Store” by Brad Stone. In the eight years since, it’s been on its way to becoming everything period.
Writing at the Washington Post, Geoffrey Fowler alerts us to a worrisome practice for book lovers, namely that books published by Amazon cannot be checked out of the library as e-books or audio books. This includes titles by Mindy Kaling, Michael Pollan, Trevor Noah and Dean Koontz.
As both publisher and distributor of these books, including the dominant distributor of e-books, and audiobooks through Audible, Amazon is able to effect a near monopoly over certain titles. As Fowler notes, it’s a strict monopoly over Kaling’s most recent book, “Nothing Like I Imagined,” given that it’s only a digital release.
Writer Cory Doctorow found out that even when a prominent, tech savvy and self-sufficient author wants to release an audiobook outside the Audible platform, Amazon’s dominance makes life difficult. Doctorow raised nearly $270,000 in crowdfunding for the audio release of “Attack Surface,” but ran into trouble when trying to get the audio files to his backers now that we are in an app-based ecosystem and transferring audio “just happens.”
The place it just happens is Amazon’s audible app, which requires the use of a proprietary “digital lock,” removable only by Amazon, leaving Doctorow — an author dedicated to controlling his own intellectual property to make it as accessible to his fans as possible — without any good options.
No one should object to Amazon running its business, but when Amazon’s business makes it difficult for other businesses to operate as they wish, we should be concerned. That there is hardly a business where Amazon doesn’t extend its reach is more worrisome still.
Even the specter of such power can be a problem. I will admit to some hesitation about being publicly critical about Amazon, given the fact that like every other writer, I am utterly dependent on them as an outlet for my books.
It is inevitable, it seems to me, that the government exerts some regulatory control over tech behemoths like Amazon, Google and Facebook. Maybe it means breaking them into smaller component parts. Maybe it means making it easier for competitors to enter the market.
As to what regular folks like us should do, I think it’s mostly a matter of being a little bit mindful, to keep track of what we may be giving away when Amazon (or anyone else) offers us a “frictionless” experience where we cede some bits of our freedom for convenience. We can also support unionization efforts like those of Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama. Over history, strong labor has served as a check on corporate power.
Amazon need not be up to nefarious deeds to cause worry. A critical mass of power even in the most benevolent hands can cause problems.