The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of MoreWhat happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone? "The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google. However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what's commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches. |
Contents
A Short History of the Long Tail | |
The Three Forces of the Long Tail | |
The New Producers | |
The New Markets | |
The New Tastemakers | |
Long Tail Economics | |
The Short Head | |
The Infinite Screen | |
Beyond Entertainment | |
Long Tail Rules | |
The Long Tail of Marketing | |
Tomorrows Tail | |
Notes on Sources and Further Reading | |
Acknowledgments | |
Other editions - View all
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More Chris Anderson No preview available - 2006 |
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More Chris Anderson No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
20 percent abundant advertising aggregators album amateur Amazon audience average bands bestseller Birdmonster blockbusters blog bloggers Bonnie McKee bricksandmortar broadcast catalog channels Chemical Romance choice collaborative filtering consumers costs create culture curve customers demand distribution downloaded eBay economics effect entertainment entry everything fans film filters genre Google Google Video Google’s hits Hollywood house music huge industry Internet inventory iPod iTunes KitchenAid labels LAUNCHcast LEGO Long Tail Long Tail markets look machinima mainstream marketplace Microsoft million MySpace Netflix offer playlist popular powerlaw printondemand radio recommendations record released Rhapsody sell shelf space shelves shift simply songs started supermarket superstores television there’s they’re things TiVo Today Touching the Void tracks usedbook users variety WalMart watching what’s Wikipedia Yahoo YouTube