Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail reading has achieved what many have failed to do.. interest me. For the first time i found myself actually just casually reading and not having to force it and so i write this post with much more enthusiasm than usual.
Finally ! Not everything mainstream, popular, in fashion is good ! Everyone has different taste in music, movies and well anything. I could not agree more with what Chris has written about, i couldnt of written it better myself (not that i could’ve)
1. Make everything available.
Holy shit yes, i do enjoy the odd few blockbuster movies and thats when i visit the cinemas to watch them. But i mostly light other low key sort of movies independent films if you will. But i tell you what finding a physical copy of such films is a task for sure and my local films rentals most definitely won’t have it so i have to go to other sources mainly online to which i wont go into detail. This so called Long tail has expanded the market and created such sample from which we can now select from. HOORAY!
2. Cut the price in half now lower it.
99cents for a single is bloody damn good to me. But no only is it 99cents for the latest Justin Bieber, Katy Perry track or whatever is trending but its 99cents of less for Alt-J or Rufus or some lesser known but equally as talented artist. The demand for more and cheaper is becoming greater and so such platforms as itunes is like a goldfield filled with endless supplies of nearly everything. The price 99cents however does come at a cost, for myself i dont mind that its a digital copy with no case or anything like that but still that doesn’t stop me from buying a physical copy if i really love an artist and so it shouldnt and i dont think it does. At that price there has to be sacrifices but quality isnt really one of them so im not too concerned.
3.Help me find it.
I personally think that the online entertainment sector is in essence a marketing ploy. More often than not in this day and age if the content is somewhere online then the likelihood of it get noticed is amplified. And when anything at all gets noticed it usually spreads like wildfire. Books, movies and CD’s that are unheard of can within days be “trending” and people will rush to stores to try and get their hands on a copy.
The “online-ness” has demolished issues like geographical barriers, availability and range. But does the success of amazon, netflix and iTunes mean the death of retail stores? Blockbuster, sanity and borders have all been in rapid decline in Australia and so scare that i have to travel more than 15 km from my house to find any of the 3. In a rapidly changing and expanding industry for the “next big thing” to thrive does something else have to die to make way? This seems to be the case in the Media sector more so than in any other where anything can fall as quickly as it rose. The media industry is essentially its own worst enemy.