Online indie and its promotion

Thoughts after reading an article on “online indie” musicians tweeted by Mary Sophie Yorke:

Editors-for-hire are on the rise. Self-published authors discovered they still sell better, not to mention build a better reputation and more committed fanbase, if their books are professionally edited.

And that makes sense. Industry disruption often takes the shape of unbundling components that used to be done by one entity and regrouping them in a way that makes more sense. The “online indie” world, be it music, written word, video, games, or, who knows, something else entirely, is about putting business control in the hands of the creators; this movement is empowered by easier, cheaper, and generally more accessible production and distribution methods enabled by the Internet.

But self-publishers are learning it’s good business to pay a professional editor, and I hear many “online indie” musicians are also shelling out for professional (sound) producers.

How come everybody’s still doing their own promotion?

At the same time, I know a bunch of people who do online marketing. Maybe it’s time to connect those dots? Maybe it’s time for a wave of promotion agencies specialising in self-publishers and online indie music?