The Long Tail

This article clearly shows or proves to me that, advertising and marketing determines what the public show demand as wants or needs. If not in all aspects, at least for movies, songs, books and so on. This is said because, the main concern in the end of the day, the industry is to gain profit which is MONEY not profit in terms of what society might actually really like apart from the mainstream. 

This article clearly explains that the mainstream is just a tactic done by marketers to like something which they predict or ASSUME that majority of people would love/like based on the industry wants us to like. There is a section in the article whereby it mentions that poor taste songs are strongly marketed and due to that loved by the public as compared to an actual good song is not marketed in the industry because the fear that the public might not like it.

     


  




Lady Gaga                                                                                                   Feist

(Example of Lady Gaga who sings mainstream songs compared to Feist who sings indie pop)

Apart from assumptions, the industry also focuses on hits rather than sales; so-called hits that are determined by the industry itself. This shows that products which may not be in the mainstream does not even have a chance to sell and become a hit! As only “hits deserve to exist,” similar to how only technology is the only source ignored by the market, which evaluates tracks on their own merit; variety apart from the mainstream.

I personally feel this is true, as during my parents time, songs actually had meaning; good lyrics and beats whereby the song actually made sense. However today, singers like Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, and many more who can’t sing and don’t even know the basic things about music are the most successful and known singer around the WORLD. What does this tell you? Are the standards in the industry dropping? Or are they just greedy for profit?

With the availability of long tail, the technology definitely provides a vast variety to the public that book stores, music stores or the movie theater can’t. In the net, clearly demonstrates the demand and supply at any point of time.

 As technology has its benefits of providing everything to everyone at any point of time and probably even at a cheaper cost, but people will slowly lose the real meaning of appreciating or cherishing something mentioned in this article. What concerns me are, assuming today people or fans has lost the real meaning or feeling of having something they like in a physical and original form.

                  

(Metallica album versus downloading songs online)

What would happen in the near future due to technology and people in the industry only greedy for cash as profit? The disadvantages are slowly starting to show and it’s only a matter of time before it catches up and overtakes!