Long Tail, How Will You Shop? By: Heather Allred

There are many ways in the world we receive music. In the media marketplace long tail and short head are ways music is distributed with popularity and the amount of products. It is our choice to decide which way we want to purchase our music.

Short head is the portion of a distribution curve where a large number of people are interested in buying a limited number of products. Much of this music is very popular among what people want but there is a limited amount of music to choose from. Long Tail is the portion of a distribution curve where a limited number of people are interested in buying a lot of different products.

Chris Anderson talks about in his book The Long Tail about entering into a more individualistic and less mass oriented era. I agree with his thought process about this. I have a taste in music that requires me to hunt the long tail because this is where I am able to find the so called “underground” bands that I love. If it weren’t for people like me that find all those bands who are trying to get noticed, they would never have that chance to be noticed. But with the vicious cycle that continues, they then one day become popular and are put into the category of where they can be found; the short head – where Big Media companies like to live.

I am willing to deal with the consequences of the Long Tail because “With small things, great things come to pass.” Things start at small but they are able as they are nourished they have that potential to become big. This is why it is so great and so important to have dreams. So reach out and find those talented artists that have the potential to shine big. Because of you, their dreams will come true.

One Long Tail Opportunity: Bit Torrent Servers

Bit-Torrent Server! It sounds like something from a natural disaster film. So what is it and how does it pertain to the Musical Long Tail?

A Bit torrent server is one of many ways to share files. The Bit Torrent software is available and makes sharing large files fast and easy.

Here is how:

Instead of searching for a file from the World Wide Web, Bit torrent files are shared peer to peer. The program looks for the file that you want among other bit torrent customers and the files are shared between the computers. The more you download the faster your download time is because you upgrade your status as you share files with other computers.

Leeches are common among Bit torrent customers. When someone downloads a file and then immediately gets off without sharing, they are called a leech. No one likes a leech.

The seed or seeder is the computer with the entire downloadable file. They share their file when they are connected to the Bit Torrent server.

The Swarm is a group of computers all downloading the same file.

The tracker looks for the file you are in need of and sends it on to you.

Some common Bit Torrent Servers are Gnutella and Kazaa.

So, are Bit torrent servers legal? Like anything else, you must be careful not to infringe on Copyrighted material.

This may seem like a large selection, but compared to an internet giant like ITunes, this is insignificant. Almost embarrassing really.

Debunking the Long Tail Theory for Music

The Musical Long Tail

In a modern society dominated by the use of internet music giants like Itunes, Rhapsody, and Napster, the corner music store as we know it is a thing of the past. The ability to delve deeply into, as Chris Anderson puts it, the "long tail" market of music has become a modern convenience.