The Merchant of Menace

Some people might recall the announcement by the British band Radiohead that they were giving their new album away, a quick download for the price of your choosing. What is this saying about our culture?
Wired magazine wrote a cover article about giving things away, but what is this movement? I tend to believe this is the death of the merchant, the one who asks for one pound of flesh, just kidding. There is definitely a focus on cutting out the middle man, after your a famous band do you really need a label taking a piece of your sales. Not if your fans buy your music regardless of who distributes it. Many fans of the music business may know that a majority of income for large musicians comes from live shows, where even there too the middleman known as ticketmaster takes a cut.
Within the local food scene across the nation there is a cutting out of the middle man, the booming of popular Farmer's Markets brings consumer in direct contact with consumer. The Wedge Co-op even bought it's own land to start a farm. Along with this is the Community Supported Agriculture movement is growing across the country.
There are other middle men within media culture who have been shoved to the side besides music labels. The Directors guild was given the heave ho by director Robert Rodriguez when making Sin City after they denied him the right to label Frank Miller as co-director in the credits. Rodriguez is now unable to work for any studio bound to this middle man, this new age merchant. Will we see Cub foods ever go away or music Labels shrink to smaller sizes? Probably not, but for every public success outside of their system these middle men will adapt, hopefully in a beneficial way for both consumer and producer.

Granted many of our products will always require many levels of production, but things that are made by artists or artisans who create a product from a raw state, may gradually disappear as the Internet allows more direct one on one access. Apple may be wary of such a success by Radiohead as it allows musicians to circumnavigate lock down Apple has created with Itunes. The trend is noticeable to the keen observer, keep your eyes open for tombstones of merchants.