Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Long Tail

The Long Tail video and article both made a lot of sense. It is only logical that the major corporations stick with the "proven formulas" when it comes to presenting the public with various audio, visual, and print media for consumption. Since physical shelf space is limited, it is difficult for the head of the tail to offer consumers variety -- it is too risky. Therefore, to minimize their loses, corporations only promote what they believe will sell in relation to current trends. However, with the advent of the world wide web, independent creative artists, activists, and average joes can now get just as much exposure as mainstream personalities. There are so many ways for individuals to get their messages out to the masses now, that if you can't present your ideas to the world, it is your own fault for not exploring your options. Now matter what your media goals are, there is an electronic platform available for you to utilize. Aspiring screenwriters and television producers can now independently produce their projects and upload them to sites like YouTube -- allowing audiences to view their work without them ever inking a major motion picture or television deal. Authors can write as many books as they want, have them available in either digital formats or print-on-demand formats, and enjoy unlimited distribution without the help of companies like Barnes and Noble (I myself have done this, and I find that I prefer this route because I maintain creative freedom, which allows me to do what I want to my manuscripts -- major publishers often change author's manuscripts to the point where the author no longer recognizes their own work). Finally, musicians can produce albums, and have them available for sale on their own personal websites -- there are even many established recording artists that now promote small independent projects on sites like myspace. The possibilities for one to create their own medium are endless now. I believe that major corporations will respond to the technological advancements by trying to offer a wider variety of media products to consumers. Right now, the corporations do not offer half as much variety as one can get on the internet. For example, if you want an Arabic hip hop album (something I actually searched for one day out of curiosity), you can find it on the 'net. . . I guarantee you will not find it a F.Y.E. To combat this problem, major corporations will make feeble attempts to sign acts or writers that are "refreshingly different," however, it will not work, because after a while, all of the major corporations will follow suit and only sign refreshingly different acts until every artist is the same again. Major corporations are too married to the idea of trends to change. They like what they know will generate revenue for certain. The only problem that I see personally with the ease of media access is that it seems like it will become increasingly more difficult for the small independent artists to get paid for their creative endeavors. There are many outlets available now for one to get their work out to the public, but there doesn't appear to be equally as many ways to get paid for it. I don't know how satisfying popularity is to an individual, if they cannot make a living doing what makes them popular.