Discovery of Long Tail

This weeks reading introduced us to Long Tail. It is a term I had not previously heard of, but that actually makes a lot of sense. When I examine the type of music I listen to, books I read, movies I watch, I have to admit that most of it are main stream productions. This article describes that much of what is popular taste in our culture has more to do with what is marketed and “a market response to inefficient distribution.”

            Television has the constraints of being able to show only 24 hours of programming, same with radio. The internet doesn’t have these parameters. You can go down a long rabbit hole of options on Netflix where one show recommends another and don’t have the limitations of only seeing options of popular programming. 

            Online distribution is introducing us into a world of an abundance of diversity with options to productions we haven’t had access to before. The article gives the example that because documentaries aren’t as popular, blockbuster would have a limited selection in stock (maybe a few dozen), but Netflix carries thousands. Long tail suggests making everything available and embracing the niches. 

            Also, in the Long Tail economy, it doesn’t make much fuss about evaluation. For example, the Sundance Film Festival will have thousands of films submitted to them. In Long Tail they believe it is more expensive to evaluate and that instead everything should be released, basically believing there is something for everyone. 

            There has been much debate in recent years over the music industry and pirating. Long Tail suggests that lowering the price of content would have people buy more. I agreed with this philosophy. Users have access to music so easily, by lowering the price it would definitely make sense for users to experience the “not worth it moment” the article describes. In this moment the user sees that its’ more work to find free quality music, plus the legal risks, and they determine that because of the low cost of music it’s a better option to buy it at the lowered price. 

            One of the things I can appreciate about Netflix is that it definitely encourages customers to explore. Amazon does this as well, as the article mentions, with its vast list of recommendations you are more likely to listen, or read something that you would have not looked into before. The article mentions the book Into the Air and that because of its recommendation of Touching the Voidon Amazon, the book started to sell again and more than a decade later, Random House had to rush out a new edition to keep up with the demand. 

            This article on Long Tail brought up great points on what the internet has allowed us in terms of diversity, distribution and how every production has its place amongst the huge stream of consumers and varied tastes.