A previous coworker once explained to me how much of the business world is about controlling and supplying the inventory - you buy up all the resources or rights to an item, and prevent others from owning or buying it without paying you.

When vinyl records were the only game in town, consumers had no choice but to buy from the record companies that produced them, and artists could not afford to cut their own vinyl so they could reach a wide distribution venue.

Now, if you think about health care, are the insurance companies playing a much different role than the record companies did ? They control the entire supply chain, and make money by forcing themselves as the go-between between producers (doctors) and consumers (patients).

In fact - thought of in this way - every industry is quite similar.