I was reading something incredibly interesting in the bookstore the other day. It was called "The Long Tail" but it was not about a frightening creature with a huge appendage,



nor was it about a hot babe with an incredible booty



but it's about how the internet and globalization is changing the face of commerce and marketing forever, and how people can take advantage of it by pursuing niches.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/...401302378"

Anyway, the book talks about how people have more choices than ever before, and because of that, it is killing mass media. At the same time, the percentage of sales in media and other outlets are skyrocketing due to niche markets. Thanks to Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, eBay, and other online markets, sales of previously offbeat or obscure products are expanding exponentially. It also explains how Walmart and Best Buy, despite having warehouses full of display space, can't justify selling any book, music CD or DVD in their stores that sells less than 50 to 100 units per month per store. But since Amazon and Netflix don't have or need shelf space, they can sell obscure titles, like "Practicing Dentistry on Attack Dogs for Veterinarians" or "Cement Statue Enthusiast".

It brought out these statistics on mass media:

• Hollywood box office fell 7% and has been declining each year since 2001
• Newspaper readership (which peaked in 1987) fell by 3%, the largest drop since the 1960's
• Magazine newsstands are at their lowest levels since statistics have been kept for more that 30 years
• TV ratings continue to fall - down 30% from last year. Since 1985, the networks are losing market share to the 1000+ Niche cable/satellite channels
• The 2005 MLB World Series had its lowest TV ratings of all time
• The 2005 NBA ratings were at a record low for viewership.
• The 2006 Grammy Awards dropped 10% in viewership in one year.
• The 2006 Winter Olympics had its lowest ratings in 20 years (after seeing the highest rating at its peak in 1994 - the start of the Internet in public expansion.)
• Radio listenership dropped to a 7 year low, down an average of 23 hours less
per week listening to the radio.
• In 2005, an average of 1 US radio station went out of business each week. The highest rate ever since the advent of radio

Actually the part I listed in bold is a lie. This year's World Series is the lowest rated World Series ever.

In other words, the long tail is killing the top ten. Case in point, look at Janet Jackson's new album, 20 Y.O. It sold close to a half million copies in three weeks, which most artists would envy, but since she is supposed to be a huge megastar, it's considered a massive flop, and it not only will result in her contract not being renewed with Virgin Records, but it got Jermaine Dupri dumped from the label as well. But let's look at the group Hinder, who has a song out called "Lips of an Angel" which is in the top ten. They're being listed as an overnight sensation, and they have sold nearly a million copies of their debut album. But they released their debut album at the end of last year, and their first week sales were only 6,000 copies. In other words, they had to reach success the old-fashioned way - by relentless touring of clubs and by word of mouth. They were offered a major label record deal but turned it down because they didn't want to give up control of their music only to be dumped by the label later.

Then there's TV. CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Dancing With The Stars, and American Idol are the most-watched TV shows in America, but 20 years ago, none of these shows would be in the top 10 in ratings. Shoes like Family Guy, 24, and Veronica Mars would have been cancelled long ago due to their initial low TV ratings, but because they developed a huge following on internet chat rooms and sold well on DVD, the networks stuck with those shows. More people these days watch music videos on YouTube then they do on MTV, VH1 or BET, and they can see videos of groups that wouldn't get airplay here in America, particularly Eurodance and Indian artists.

Do you know who this woman is?



To a lot of people, she's the sexiest, most beautiful woman on the face of the earth. (F*ck Scarlett Johansson, this woman is da bomb!) It's Aishwarya Rai, an actress and singer who is the reigning queen of Bollywood cinema. Many of you are probably thinking, what the heck is Bollywood? Actually, people on this forum are more aware of world culture than the average person, but for those who don't know, Bollywood stands for the motion picture industry in India. They produce more films each year than Hollywood does, and they are huge in Asia. But only a small group of people in the USA are familiar with Bollywood or the Hong Kong action movie industry. Movies like The Ring, the Saw series, and The Grudge are all remakes of Japanese and Korean films. But unless you were a fan of that niche, chances are you would not know that.

To sum up, the long tail explains that in the future, there is more money to be made by catering to tiny groups with millions of messages instead of trying to reach billions with one.

I would like to see more hot ass and godzilla please. Thank you.

jerseykrs said:

Come to my house.

HamsterHuey said:

728huey said:

That's cause baseball is boring as hell.

evenstar3 said:

Tell me about it - oh wait; I'm english.

Nice sig, btw.