It's not so much one way with the TLD registers though, there's a formal business relationship where a price is agreed for a level of service (usually). Granted

It's not so much one way with the TLD registers though, there's a formal business relationship where a price is agreed for a level of service (usually). Granted, a lot of the power remains in their court, but there's a two way relationship going on. The problem with the 3rd party API is for the most part it's all free, thus leading to the power remaining solely with the provider. It's amazing how much businesses often depend on single sources for services, TLD's is a great example.