In one sense The Long Tail is about common sense. I.e. most people share some favourite songs/films/books/sites but also have some personal favourites not shared by the masses. And they value access to the 'unpopular' personal favourites.
In the world of physical retailing the money is in the hits (the head) as they are the ones that can be profitably marketed and distributed. Basically the value of the misses (the tail) is percieved to be very low. One could expect the same rules to apply online.
But what The Long Tail argument says, as I understand it, is that the value of the tail is percieved to be very high. That implies that online music services do need millions of songs, that online bookstores need to carry millions of books (or at least the distributor does) and so forth.
I acutally heard the same argument about pay-TV, Sky in the UK, from a major consultancy firms' media practise once. Exclusive football rights drove adoption, but a broader selection of programmes drove adoption even faster.
I do not know exactly what the implications of The Long Tail are, but I sense that the traditional way of thinking about business models in the media world don't cut it anymore.
Hi Henrik
ReplyDeleteAll of a sudden everyone it writing and mentioning ?The Long Tail? as the next big thing - or as a fact of life. Why?
Of course technology, internet and that kind of stuff gives new possibilities, but isn?t The long Tail about common sense? I think so!!
Best Regards
Hans Henrik Højberg Heming - public(mind)
In one sense The Long Tail is about common sense. I.e. most people share some favourite songs/films/books/sites but also have some personal favourites not shared by the masses. And they value access to the 'unpopular' personal favourites.
ReplyDeleteIn the world of physical retailing the money is in the hits (the head) as they are the ones that can be profitably marketed and distributed. Basically the value of the misses (the tail) is percieved to be very low. One could expect the same rules to apply online.
But what The Long Tail argument says, as I understand it, is that the value of the tail is percieved to be very high. That implies that online music services do need millions of songs, that online bookstores need to carry millions of books (or at least the distributor does) and so forth.
I acutally heard the same argument about pay-TV, Sky in the UK, from a major consultancy firms' media practise once. Exclusive football rights drove adoption, but a broader selection of programmes drove adoption even faster.
I do not know exactly what the implications of The Long Tail are, but I sense that the traditional way of thinking about business models in the media world don't cut it anymore.