Comments on: The Long Tail Isn’t So Long After All http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com Sat, 26 May 2012 21:05:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802632 Anonymous Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:42:16 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802632 <p>Why is this surprising at all? What surprised me is that ONLY 10 million of the available singles didn't sell at all. Almost every work of any kind is bad, or at least exceedingly mediocre--painting, sculpture, dance, television, fiction, and, yes music, even if it's distributed online and without DRM and without a major label deal. Fighting overly-restrictive copyright policy and the out of touch label exec dinosaurs is valiant, and I mean that, but we are all joking ourselves if we think The New Age of Media Distribution will simultaneously usher in some second renaissance.</p> Why is this surprising at all? What surprised me is that ONLY 10 million of the available singles didn’t sell at all. Almost every work of any kind is bad, or at least exceedingly mediocre–painting, sculpture, dance, television, fiction, and, yes music, even if it’s distributed online and without DRM and without a major label deal. Fighting overly-restrictive copyright policy and the out of touch label exec dinosaurs is valiant, and I mean that, but we are all joking ourselves if we think The New Age of Media Distribution will simultaneously usher in some second renaissance.

]]> By: Lax Danja House http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802642 Lax Danja House Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:31:54 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802642 <p>@<a href="#c9643587">Mike Barthel</a>: It seems like point number one contradicts point number two.</p> <p>"The report hasn't even been published so we can't draw any conclusions about its veracity, but while we wait why not call the authors' credibility into question?"</p> @Mike Barthel: It seems like point number one contradicts point number two.

“The report hasn’t even been published so we can’t draw any conclusions about its veracity, but while we wait why not call the authors’ credibility into question?”

]]> By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802692 Anonymous Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:34:32 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802692 <p>yeah spot on really. its almost as if people would rather this research hadn't been done, as it challenges the prevailing 'alterna-wisdom'.</p> yeah spot on really. its almost as if people would rather this research hadn’t been done, as it challenges the prevailing ‘alterna-wisdom’.

]]> By: Mike Barthel http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802652 Mike Barthel Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:21:47 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802652 <p>A counterpoint from John Brissenden:</p> <p><a href="http://johnbrissenden.tumblr.com/post/66301917/two-good-reasons-why-reports-of-the-death-of-the-long">[johnbrissenden.tumblr.com]</a></p> A counterpoint from John Brissenden:

[johnbrissenden.tumblr.com]

]]> By: 30f http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802662 30f Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:24:28 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802662 <p>Nice post Mike. It prompted me to actually make a post of my own.</p> <p><a href="http://30frames.blogspot.com/2008/12/man-thats-lot-of-holes.html">[30frames.blogspot.com]</a></p> Nice post Mike. It prompted me to actually make a post of my own.

[30frames.blogspot.com]

]]> By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802672 Anonymous Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:46:18 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802672 <p>Studies, schmudies. Long tail, shmong tail. I still say 'yay for content, boo for major labels as filters'. I don't care how much shit there is out there that no one buys - I can still sift through and find better music than the turds at record companies.</p> Studies, schmudies. Long tail, shmong tail. I still say ‘yay for content, boo for major labels as filters’. I don’t care how much shit there is out there that no one buys – I can still sift through and find better music than the turds at record companies.

]]> By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802682 Anonymous Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:04:17 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802682 <p>I don't really find this troubling or encouraging from either standpoint. First of all, it seemed like Anderson was less dismissive of the results in the article from the Times. Instead he seemed to acknowledge that the data provided showed that the long tail model did not apply, but was hesitant to say that it meant that the long tail model COULDN'T apply in general (that is, for business as a whole, not just the music business). Additionally, it also seemed like he would need to read the entire published report, a not unreasonable response.</p> <p>More importantly though, I never considered the idea of the Long Tail as immediately game changing as everyone seemed to think it meant. It's an attractive idea but it's only possible given the relatively new model provided by Amazon. The datasets gathered by Anderson seemed to prove his initial theory but it seemed naive to me to think that it meant the model was already happening, despite the hype that surrounded that idea.</p> <p>I don't know. In the end, this is how data analysis and research works: contradiction after contradiction. If Page and Bud's analysis prove nothing, it's because Anderson's research proves nothing and vice-versa. They're just ideas, meant to be discussed and complained about.</p> I don’t really find this troubling or encouraging from either standpoint. First of all, it seemed like Anderson was less dismissive of the results in the article from the Times. Instead he seemed to acknowledge that the data provided showed that the long tail model did not apply, but was hesitant to say that it meant that the long tail model COULDN’T apply in general (that is, for business as a whole, not just the music business). Additionally, it also seemed like he would need to read the entire published report, a not unreasonable response.

More importantly though, I never considered the idea of the Long Tail as immediately game changing as everyone seemed to think it meant. It’s an attractive idea but it’s only possible given the relatively new model provided by Amazon. The datasets gathered by Anderson seemed to prove his initial theory but it seemed naive to me to think that it meant the model was already happening, despite the hype that surrounded that idea.

I don’t know. In the end, this is how data analysis and research works: contradiction after contradiction. If Page and Bud’s analysis prove nothing, it’s because Anderson’s research proves nothing and vice-versa. They’re just ideas, meant to be discussed and complained about.

]]> By: TheContrarian http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802702 TheContrarian Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:05:56 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802702 <p>This is a killer post, Mike. The last two grafs, especially.</p> <p>Here's my response/continuation, if you're interested:<br> <a href="http://www.thecontrarianmedia.com/2008/12/idolator-squeezes-out-another-worthy-music-biz-post/">[www.thecontrarianmedia.com]</a></p> This is a killer post, Mike. The last two grafs, especially.

Here’s my response/continuation, if you’re interested:
[www.thecontrarianmedia.com]

]]> By: The Illiterate http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802712 The Illiterate Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:08:49 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802712 <p>This is not much different from the old model, either, in terms of sales. A couple of years ago Billboard did a wrap up for 2006 that showed that only a third of albums released sold more than one hundred copies (and I'll bet a large number of those sold none at all), and most of the remaining third sold less than 10,000. The delivery system may be changing, but the realities of the market don't seem to have changed much at all.</p> This is not much different from the old model, either, in terms of sales. A couple of years ago Billboard did a wrap up for 2006 that showed that only a third of albums released sold more than one hundred copies (and I’ll bet a large number of those sold none at all), and most of the remaining third sold less than 10,000. The delivery system may be changing, but the realities of the market don’t seem to have changed much at all.

]]> By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5116011/the-long-tail-isnt-so-long-after-all/comment-page-1#comment-802722 Anonymous Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:02:27 +0000 http://dd79d964b480d98faab6a7045e3c6b5a#comment-802722 <p>One day people are going to look around and ask themselves what happened to all the content. At that point, things will start getting better. Until then, things are going to get a whole lot worse.</p> One day people are going to look around and ask themselves what happened to all the content. At that point, things will start getting better. Until then, things are going to get a whole lot worse.

]]>