Anderson's Long Tail

What is the Long Tail?

Chris Anderson in 2006 published his theory of the way that the internet has transformed commerce, consumption and economics.

Andersons idea sum's up what has been happening for a few years since broadband was rolled out for consumers. Since broadband there has been a realisation that adding up niche consumption might amount to some revenue, (no longer a lower end to the  market).

Andersons theory explains that economics usually focus on the top end of the tail and ignoring the end. His simple point is " As broadband internet allows more and more people to look for and share or buy a wider variety of material and products, what happens is that people buy less of more. So instead of ignoring all the small sales of products in favour of cent rating on huge mass sales (more of less), businesses ought to consider both routes and give equal weighing to both ends of the tail".

Summary of the theory:

The Long Tail theory - Our economy and culture are increasingly shifting from a focus of small number of hits (mainstream products) at the head of the demand curve, and moving towards a huge number of niche products in the tail. In an era where narrowly targeted services and goods can be economically attractive as mainstream products.

The internet is a virtual warehouse which has allowed fewer overheads to be associated with niche distribution and therefore infinitive choice is available.

Why this relates to the music industry?

The internet has changed the way that media (music) is consumed and therefore allowing niece products to be discovered by individuals which would have never been before. The internet is very powerful and has given majority of its power to consumers, who now decide what is a bigger seller and what isn't. The big 4 music labels; ; Sony BMG, Universal music group, EMI and Warner music group no longer dominate/control the music industry, consumers do. Grassroots media is easier to access, which makes armatures become famous using websites such as YouTube.  For example Justin Bieber could not be where he is today if it wasn't for the power of the internet.