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The Sometimes Fallacy of The Long Tail

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sometimes-the-snake's-head-is-what-matters dept.

There's been a lot of talk (maybe too much talk, to paraphrase Bono) about The Long Tail and how it changes everything about what people consume, how hits are made, what people want to hear, how everything big is small again -- but people have taken that perhaps too far as Lee Gomes contends in a recent blog post about hits. Lee's piece is well thought-out, and I think raises a very valid point that whereas there is value in the Long Tail idea, sometimes people take it too far and that "Hits" still count for a lot. His earlier piece is a more direct critique of The Long Tail and worth reading as well; we covered that piece about the Long Tail a couple weeks back.

2 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. This is a trick... by Stephen+Tennant · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    to make Slashdot look like a surrealist cult, talking about the "mysteries of the long tail."

    --
    I spend most of my time in bed, darling.
  2. Skew the curve by bodland · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Make "Strip Mall Heaven" a hit record...

    http://cdbaby.com/soulamp
    Free stuff here:
    http://soul-amp.com/

    Prove the analysts wrong...and make an obscure album by a obscure band made up of a Middle School Custodian, a Oracle DBA and Notes Programmer a hit...by simply popping for our disk on line. After all who wants all that money going to Ashlee Simpson or some American Idle clone.

    It's 100% BuG FoG

    "By Geeks for Geeks"
    If you do we can make another one and maybe play a show in your town, clean your bathroom, Upgrade your Oracle 7 DB to 10g RAC and do what ever Lotus Notes freaks do. (I still don't know what he does and I have known him for years) Ok I suppose I should SAY SOMETHING about the article...Big corporate propaganda. The Long Tail freaked the wigs out. The old 80/20 business model is being melted by a 14 year old with a bic lighter and a iPod...Yeah baby destruction derby time...(I know you built car models and made dents) So they respond with a Jedi mind fook: "This is not the long tail you are looking for, move along." type of article. So all is well in Wellsville.

    Ashlee is waiting.

    Go to her now.