The correlation between familiarity and value

John Perry Barlow, discussing the Grateful Dead's methods of engaging its audience:

What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then—the important correlation is the one between familiarity and value, not scarcity and value. Adam Smith taught that the scarcer you make something, the more valuable it becomes. In the physical world, that works beautifully. But we couldn’t regulate [taping at Grateful Dead] shows, and you can’t online. The Internet doesn’t behave that way.

From Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead, in the current Atlantic.