You need conversation. In practically every field of artistic endeavor, we see success stories grounded in artists who engage in some form of conversation with their audience. JMS kept Babylon 5 alive by hanging out on fan newsgroups. Neil Gaiman’s blog is built almost entirely on conversing simultaneously with thousands of readers. All the indie bands who’ve found success on the Internet through their message-boards and mailing lists, all the independent documentarians like Jason Scott, comics authors like Warren Ellis with his LiveJournal, blog, mailing list, etc.
Conversation with an audience isn’t easy, and there are lots of people who produce great art and lousy conversation. But that’s not any different from previous technological changes: there were lots of charismatics who couldn’t shift to radio. Lots of virtuosos will fail to shift to conversation.