Chasing the Long Tail’s Virtuous Circle
The Internet has already deeply affected business models across the spectrum, from supply-chain management to consumer level e-commerce. But it will take real broadband to truly disrupt the visually oriented movie, television, and education industries. James Surowiecki of the New Yorker, in “Disk Averse,” adds to the growing literature focusing on the “Long Tail” economy. Last fall Wired editor Chris Anderson wrote a groundbreaking article by that name showing that digitally oriented content sellers, who were not constrained by the physical scarcities of shelf space or spectrum, earned between 25 and 50 percent of their profits from unpopular products. The volume of niche content (books, movies, songs) is so large, Anderson showed, that it matches or excels the sales and Read More ›