The American Idol / Grammys matchup from a couple of weeks ago may go down as a watershed moment in the shift in the balance of power towards the consumer.  It turns out that consumers were far more interested in watching their own compete against one another than in watching a pre-packaged, polished telecast with the hottest music stars of the day.  American Idol  averaged 28.3 million viewers while the Grammys averaged 15 million viewers.  Wow.  Nearly a 2:1 advantage.  The people have voted overwhelmingly with their clickers.

All is not lost, however, for the traditional media companies.  Given their existing brand equity and editorial competencies, they could be uniquely positioned IF they can facilitate content creation, conversation and interactions amongst their users but within an appropriately branded, controlled and 'safe' environment appealing to advertisers.

Now a prediction:  It's only a matter of time until we have a MySpace award show.  Think MTV Viewer's Choice awards for the 21st century.