Are Advertisers changing from Producers to Sponsors to Art Galleries?

As the traditional media outlets such as TV networks and newspapers are becoming less effective advertising channels, advertisers are trying two different paths to their audience: 1. Generate their own content, such as Proctor & Gamble's Home Made Simple, and 2. Find artists who are compatible with the brand and sponsor them.

Which will become more efficient and commonplace? At iMedia Connection, Noah Brier and Drew Neisser of Renegade Marketing Group say that as in the early days of TV and radio, companies will eventually stop producing content, which isn't a core activity of their business, and switch to sponsorship.

Brier and Neisser also say this will be a boon to all the emerging young artists who currently post their content for free on sites such as MySpace. They may be right. A new business called Revver has been launched to help amateurs earn money from traffic to popular videos.

Does this mean that sponsors will become the tastemakers, as in the old days when artists had to find a patron to be successful? Is the Converse Gallery an art gallery of the future?