Middlemen, radio and sharks
JACK FM, it turns out, will email you about your favorite songs. Thanks to all who wrote in.
But it got me thinking about shark.
Had shark for dinner last night. $10 a pound and totally worth it. Really fresh and delicious.
The fisherman, of course, was lucky to make a buck a pound. And all those middlemen added little in terms of value (they cut it, of course, and kept it cool, and allowed me to buy it midday, but they also added several days to the process of getting it from the dock to me).
What if the fisherman had my preferences and just let me know when he had a good haul? I could meet his truck at Union Square and buy direct, fresh, for $5.
Twice as efficient, twice as fresh.
No, of course it’s not going to happen soon, because fishermen like being fishermen and don’t want to deal with all of these hassles.
But the new middlemen are going to be a lot more efficient than the old ones! And the key asset that will allow them to wipe out the status quo is permission.