The Long Tail and Wikinomics

1. What is Chris Anderson’s theory of ‘the long tail’?

The long tail theory refers to the idea that more profit can now be made from more fragmented audiences consuming different, smaller 'niche' products, rather than a mass audience all buying into a few extremely popular products.

2. What does the theory of ‘the long tail’ mean for the music industry and to other areas of the media such as online television?

In regards to the music industry, the long tail theory means that labels can now make just as much money, if not more money, from signing a collection of distinct artists with small fanbases, rather than simply holding a few artists with bigger audiences. The variety and choice of music available now means that there is a very fragmented audience all buying into different artists and genres, whereas in the older days when there was less choice and variety, pretty much everyone would buy the same few genres of music from a few artists who hold mass audiences.

3. What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ theory of Wikinomics? 

The theory of wikinomics describes how people can come together and collaborate in order to create products or in the case of Wikipedia; a website. This user participation is revolutionary as there is no one person or company pulling all the strings, it is simply everyone coming together and doing their part which means it is less effort for everyone and the profits and benefits of the creations do not all go to one or a small selected number of people.

4. What are the four big ideas of Wikinomics and how might these ideas be applied to the music industry?

The four big ideas of Wikinomics are peering, sharing, thinking globally and openness. Peering is the idea that content can now be shared between peers easily through websites such as Facebook; in the case of music one can easily upload a link to Facebook which leads to a YouTube video of a song. This song being uploaded to YouTube is the sharing.