One of the extra resource readings for this class is an article published to online media outlet WIRED concerning the economic trend of “long tail media”, which basically describes the notion that the market for non-mainstream media content combined are bigger than the mainstream media that is consumed. The article goes on to argue that this line of thinking will shift the economy of media away from blockbusters/lowest common denominator content and into wider and more niche concepts. At a base level, it is true. Obviously, there is always going to be content filling niche’s that mainstream media isn’t going to bother to try and cash in on. Netflix has thousands of titles on its browser, for example, and they are deliberately picked to try and appeal to the widest audience possible. So while it is true that niche markets are big (and probably growing with the ever expanding content outlets online), the notion that the entire economic media landscape will shift towards that model doesn’t seem to line up with the current trend (especially in film and music) in content creation.
Currently, generic blockbuster movies are bigger than ever. Expanded universes, trilogies, prequels, sequels etc are dominating the box office. Cinema companies are, more and more, giving screens to the lowest common denominator films rather than taking chances on the more “niche” or (as they are sometimes viewed) “risky” options. I can honestly only see this trend continuing to a point where cinemas will only show blockbuster films and everything else will be only available online. And while, as the article points out, this online only form of niche distribution is rapidly growing in economic viability as a business model, its also getting harder and harder to find production companies that are willing to finance projects that aren’t tying in with some kind of established brand/actor/cinematic universe/source material. While it is true that the biggest market, inevitably, lies outside the top “X” percentage of songs streamed/movies played in cinema etc, that doesn’t mean thats where the most money is for the content creators. So while its true that Spotify makes a ton of money on the “small sales” (the top 10,000 songs get less plays than all the rest combined), it is increasingly becoming harder for bands to get their music onto Spotify if they aren’t an established brand. Similarly in film, while its true that a relatively sizeable portion of Netflix’s library that is streamed aren’t even released in cinemas, its getting harder to find backers with enough money to make those smaller movies with quality.