Disrupted

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by: John Winsor

Since last week I’ve been enjoying Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbow. I have to admit, I’ve never been a fanatical Radiohead fan and am not much of a trendsetter when it comes to music. Yet, when I went to Radiohead’s web site to download the songs I was willing to pay $10 because the context was set by iTunes. As a consumer, I’m willing to pay a reasonable price for the product and would rather pay the producer directly, cutting out the middleman.

After selling 1.2 million downloads at $8 a piece, Radiohead is proving that the value that middlemen bring to the market is quickly vanishing. Where there is currently a middleman there is disruption or soon will be.

Power to the producers and consumers!

Original Post: http://www.johnwinsor.com/my_weblog/2007/10/disrupted.html