The Long Tail of Distribution

After watching Chris Anderson explain the Long Tail Model in the Youtube clip and reading Wired magazine’s Long Tail article I could only think of one thing, my boyfriend. Okay, I know that sounds dumb, but let me explain. My boyfriend is a huge Bob Marley fan. Back around the time when we first met, he told me about this rare Bob Marley song that he had heard in a documentary about Bob Marley’s life. He searched everywhere, for a long time for this one song. All of the music stores he went to, including chain and local stores, only carried Marley’s most popular CD’s if not just a greatest hits album, none of which contained this rare track. This song was not even sold on any of the digital music stores like iTunes, Rhapsody, or Zune Marketplace. It was only through a Bob Marley fan site that he was lead to a sort of “legal bootlegging” site that had a list of obscure and rare songs that he found the track he was looking for. I think this is kind of the idea of The Long Tail distribution.

The Long Tail is basically the concept of having almost anything within reach through the internet as opposed to having a limited experience of the rest of the world because of scarcity and physical restrictions. If we only had the ability to go to stores to get the things that we need we would be limiting ourselves only to what is most popular and/or what the store decides to order/carry.

This model has and will continue to change media outlets because they will have more competition than just a few major movie studios, record labels, cable/satellite companies, and newspapers/news shows. Movie studios have to make sure that they take into account the talent and success of the average independent film maker instead of writing them off because they don’t have the advertising dollars because now, those indie films can just be bought and sold online on a personal website of the independent studio/or film. But it’s not all bad for big studios, the long tail can also be a tool for searching out talent. A few weeks ago I read about a kid who posted his scifi video, Ataque de Panico! (Panic Attack!) on YouTube where anyone could view his work ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dadPWhEhVk ). Well, American film studio, Ghost House Pictures saw it and recruited the young film maker to create their next blockbuster film. It worked out for both ends, the indie film maker is now making more money and getting more exposure that he probably ever dreamed and the studio gets to be on the cutting edge with a brand new film maker.

Newspapers are learning from bloggers and online news sites how to keep competing as an industry by getting online. Converting to online newspapers and learning to profit from that will be the biggest struggle and biggest help to the failing newspaper business. For both newspapers and news programs, they are already facing tremendous competition with blogs from average people and/or experts who can give news for free and at anytime to their readers and viewers. “Search engine news” also lessens the likelihood of sales and ratings to newspapers and news programs; Search engine news are the stories on the homepages of popular search engines like Yahoo! or the news widgets you can set on your desktop, basically popular news from random sources that decrease news “brand” loyalty. I think the industry that is really feeling the effects of the long tail model and are actively trying to resist it is the music industry. The music industry already has a distrust of the internet because of the illegal file sharing that has put a dent in the business for years already. However, in the Long Tail article Anderson explains the true costs of digital music and that the music industry is quite frankly being a little greedy by keeping the price according to what it would be for physical distribution. I appreciated how Anderson pointed out that, “If it clearly costs less for a record label to deliver a song online…why shouldn’t the price be less too?” As Anderson states, “Price according to digital costs, not physical ones.” He goes on to explain how people tend to buy more when prices are lower; he doesn’t have to convince me, if I’m in a dollar store I can spend up to $40 without even thinking about it just because all I’m considering is that EVERYTHING IS A DOLLAR! Besides, I buy more music online just because of the fact that I hate having to buy a whole $15 cd when I only like two songs on it and I’ll have more money to buy a lot of singles I like as opposed to that overpriced piece of plastic with only two good songs on it.

The ability of independent production and the ability to reach niche audiences give everyone with internet access a chance to have their work appreciated. The way they operate is greatly changed: there is less worry and hassle in getting your product out to the public, consumer/blogger recommendations and comments can greatly help your chances of success, and potentially you reach the audience of the entire World Wide Web. The Long Tail model seems like a tool of democracy because it provides a voice to both more producers and consumers; producers get to have a chance to be a part of the market, and consumers are now able to give a more clear view of our own culture by giving them a voice too through the way they consume when not restricted by economics. Anderson explains that, “Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply and demand matching” and this gives us “real-time information about buying trends and public opinion.” The infinite shelf space of the internet seems to be something that works for both consumers and producers and the future of a successful market model.

Sources:
Anderson, Chris. "The Long Tail". WIRED 12.10. 2004. Jan. 23, 2010.
Anderson, Chris. "Identifying 'The Long Tail'". YouTube.com. Jan. 23, 2010
Alvarez, Fede. "Ataque de Panico". YouTube.com. Jan.24, 2010
Long Tail Dinosaur Image. Available http://edgewatertech.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/long-tail.png . Jan.24, 2010
Money Down the Drain. Available http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/billion-dollar-it-waste-and-mismanagement-at-census-bureau.jpg Jan.24 2010