The Long Tail Book Report

The Long Tail Book Report The definition of "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson is that the more a society advances, the more companies will expand the diversity of their products to cater to specific groups of people instead of turning to the popular 'hits' as the only product. And as more products become available, people's taste will expand creating more markets. As the book quotes Kevin Laws for saying, "The biggest money is in the smallest sales" (Anderson 23), meaning that there are a huge amount of niche markets that can be tapped into providing for a profitable sale plan. We can see these developments pretty easily when we look at both the popular genres in different times, as well as technological companies that have had a huge role on the Internet and the music people access. One major historic development that complies with the idea of "The Long Tail" is online booksellers, or online sellers in general. The book talks about how Into Thin Air's publicized release rebooted the sales of previously released Touching The Void. A large part for that was the ability for online stores like amazon allowing customer reviews, for people to compare and admire both books. With that, online sellers also have access to "infinite shelf space with real-time information about buying trends and public opinion" (Anderson 16). Another historic development is the ability to stream online. With Rhapsody as the books example, people began downloading songs far less, but the number of total songs being heard grew astronomically through these types of companies. The three forces of the Long Tail are: Democratize Productions, Democratize Distribution, and Connect Supply and Demand. Democratizing production is giving people the means to 'produce' their own product. As I look at my doc on the bottom of my computer screen, I see GarageBand, iMovie, and Photoshop. Each of those programs enables me to create a piece of work, thus democratizing production. Democratizing Distribution