After attending this symposium and eventually getting around to reading week nine’s second text, the relevance of the power law distribution became a whole lot clearer. The example of how the practices of both music industry and consumers has changed, as discussed in the reading and symposium, is perhaps the best way to clarify what it’s all about. Examine the following power law/long tail:

The big hits in the music industry can be found in the ‘head’ of the power law. These are the mainstream artists and/or songs that are replayed on the radio millions of times across the globe, and independently generate the most revenue. On the wider scale of things, there are fewer of these big hits than there is music commercially available all together. This fact leads us to acknoweledge the ‘long tail.’ In the lower tail of the long tail resides the rest of the music out there, typically those less known or obscure. Collectively, the long tail generates greater revenue than the few million-dollar hits found in the head.

In the past, music was only accessible on physical media, like CDs and records. Not all producers had the opportunity to mass produce CDs or gain access to major distributors, consequently limiting the consumer’s access to their music all together. Today, however, the music industry has completely transformed, with digital media and the Internet opening up so many opportunities for both music producers and consumers. It is much easier now for small music makers to get their content out there, through uploading their content for download on platforms such as iTunes, Spotify or Soundcloud. This gives rise to many more obscure artists and enables consumers the access to a broader, more diverse range of music. It is also great in the sense that old tracks do not disappear from the music scene like they did previously.

Long live the long tail! Pretty cool stuff.