> If that's true, for you and for others who share that opinion, what does it matter?

I don't have a dog in the race. For me, it doesn't. The world would be a better place without DRM and it would be a better place without TSA, but I can do nothing about either.

> It's hard to take a position like "digital distributors offer no value" seriously when the paid digital media marketplace was created by said distributors.

The market was created by Napster and it's cousins. The ability to hand over money was a matter of getting the music labels and movie studios on board - and half of them are still reluctant participants at this point. Anybody can give them money. None of them provides exclusive access to a customer base, and none of them provide a significant boost to sales for products without their own separate marketing.

There's a "Netflix for..." so many different markets because all you need to do is sign a contract with the studios for access to media which they'll deliver directly to customers themselves.

During the time when Tower Records or Target actually provided access to customers that nobody else could provide, the distribution channels were valuable. Now what they accomplish is a simple and easily repeatable commodity.