We always think the most popular hits, flicks and read's are the bestsellers, but what happens to the one-hit wonders? Well, they make their fairy-tale comeback and sell bigger than those so-called “bestseller’s”. In the Long Tail article, Chris Anderson explains a concept in the entertainment industry that the less popular media, whether it be movies, music, video games, etc. rakes in more dough than the raving box office hits or #1's do. Just because a song, movie, book or even television show is not being talked about in the national media, does not mean that it is not being bought and played over and over again. It just so happens that these items are bringing in more sales than the leading film or #1 bestseller’s do.
If we think about it and take a look at our ITunes catalogs we can find that we have over 1,000 different songs from every different artist out there. I know that for me, since ITunes came out I have not bought a CD since I was in middle school and Sam Goody was open on Greenwich Avenue. It was the "thing" to do to go to your local record store to buy that new CD from Britney Spears or Nsync (favorites of mine) and play your favorite songs over and over and skip over the ones that didn't strike your fancy. With ITunes, I can conveniently go on and download a song or two from one artist without having to spend $15.00 on the whole CD.
With all of the access we have today at the tip of our fingers, it is hard not to find what we are looking for. "You can find everything out there on the Long Tail. There's the back catalog, older albums still fondly remembered by longtime fans or rediscovered by new ones." (Chris Anderson) I think that is such an important statement that Anderson makes because every day people are rediscovering music or movies that they remember from their past, like their childhood, and are even discovering things from decades ago. I can definitely agree with Anderson that the Long Tail is a true existing concept because if you think about it, our generation has discovered music and movies that date back to our parent's and grandparent's generations. We hear a song on the radio or watch a movie on-demand and it triggers a memory of another song or movie which makes us go out and find that these items that we have not heard in years. We may even go on the Internet to research and find things that are similar to what we know but never got the chance to hear or see.
Something else that I thought about while reading Anderson's article is that every single person in this world has different taste in anything and everything there is. We may have similar taste in music with some people, and we may find joy in something that is totally out of the ordinary. We are all our own person, which means that not everyone is going to go out and see that #1 hit film of the year just because it is up for an Oscar. Some of us may find that a small Indie film that most have never heard of is what makes us weak at the knees compared to another overrated Brad Pit-Hollywood-Hit. What I really love is when I can hang out with friends who have a different taste in music or movies than I do, and they can introduce me to a new song or film that I have never heard of or would have known about without their knowledge, which will make me want to check out more of what I heard or saw. This is the type of thing that helps the “lesser-known” rise in sales.
We hear, see, or read things that have not been plastered all over our TV sets or billboards off the highway and it is like a breath of fresh air. I think that the radio stations, television stations, and tedious commercials play a large part in why these popular items are not the actual "best-sellers". When we hear and see things over and over every 5 seconds it gets played out, we get bored, and we move on. But when we can discover and rediscover new or old things, it opens up a new world to things that we may have never known and it is so much more interesting and exciting than the things that we feel we have to drown out.
While reading this article I did not think I was going to be able to comprehend what this man was talking about, but I think now it makes sense to me and I think what he is saying is definitely something to give attention to. I understand this concept he talks about and I can say that I fully agree with him.
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