‘The Long Tail’ – a phrase first used by Chris Anderson, in his Wired Magazine article, which he has since developed into a book and ongoing blog, also entitled The Long Tail. The phrase is used to describe the section of the market whereby a large amount of products are sold, but on a small scale, as oppose to the other end of the market where only a small number of products are sold, but each in much larger quantities. An example in music would be that Madonna alone is able to sell millions of records, however many smaller bands could each sell thousands of records, and so together they are able to sell millions, it is these smaller acts which make up the long tail.
Companies have recognised this trend in the market and with the help of the internet, are able to cater for it, such as Amazon. Customers are able to browse for exactly what they want, rather than in a shop, where there are limits as to how much stock they are able to hold, online they have no limitations and so are able to offer users an incredibly wide selection of products. Even though they may only sell a small number of copies of each of these products, because they have such a wide selection of products, all of which sell a small number, they are able to make more money than if they were to only stock a small number of products.
Many online stores are able to follow this trend, such as itunes, where the customer can easily access and buy rare tracks which they would be unable to find in stores or even as a hardcopy.
To link this in with my previous post on publishing, a music publisher could benefit from this theory of the long tail, by working with many lesser known composers and artists, and instead of focusing all their time to one which they feel may have they most market potential, they could promote each of the songs / composers / artists equally and individually, carefully placing them in a context which they’re most suited to. And so by doing this they are able to make more money from more artists. For much smaller artists this can also be beneficial as they’re given an opportunity which they wouldn’t usually have had if their publisher was to focus on one big act.
I can also see how this idea has the potential to be less beneficial to particular acts who may otherwise have become much more successful if their publisher were to focus purely on placing their work, rather than splitting their time between numerous acts.
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