Hal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
libertango) wrote2005-07-01 07:02 pm
libertango) wrote2005-07-01 07:02 pm
The Long Tail wags
Dan Bricklin -- who invented the spreadsheet -- has this to say:
Even listening on music players and the Internet is long-tail: In an interview with Larry Magid on ITConversations, RealNetwork's Rob Glaser said [at minute 2:45] that in a given month over 90% of Rhapsody's one million songs are played at least once and the top 100 songs make up only 1% of the listens. I wonder how identical people's music libraries are if you look at their high-capacity music player. Probably many quite different mixes and that personal part is what makes an iPod so popular and better than radio.
Gosh... It almost sounds like, if only RIAA member labels would stop cutting their backlist titles, they'd get more sales overall. (In other words, if you follow that link you'll see how CD sales have fallen in absolute units, yes, but that's because there are fewer titles available. CD sales per title have been climbing, despite [or possibly because of] "piracy". If the Long Tail idea is valid -- and Glaser's comments certainly point that way -- then yes, cutting those "small selling" backlist titles really can completely screw you.)
{by way of David Weinberger}
Even listening on music players and the Internet is long-tail: In an interview with Larry Magid on ITConversations, RealNetwork's Rob Glaser said [at minute 2:45] that in a given month over 90% of Rhapsody's one million songs are played at least once and the top 100 songs make up only 1% of the listens. I wonder how identical people's music libraries are if you look at their high-capacity music player. Probably many quite different mixes and that personal part is what makes an iPod so popular and better than radio.
Gosh... It almost sounds like, if only RIAA member labels would stop cutting their backlist titles, they'd get more sales overall. (In other words, if you follow that link you'll see how CD sales have fallen in absolute units, yes, but that's because there are fewer titles available. CD sales per title have been climbing, despite [or possibly because of] "piracy". If the Long Tail idea is valid -- and Glaser's comments certainly point that way -- then yes, cutting those "small selling" backlist titles really can completely screw you.)
{by way of David Weinberger}