Over the past few years, the Long Tail economy has been trumpeted as the new paradigm, or at least a major new paradigm, enabled by web technologies.
Our work as DIY filmmakers sits firmly in the Long Tail. With no stars or massive distribution budget we are 100% Long Tail. Doesn't that sound sexy?
Well, to put it another way: not many people care about us.
That's the difference between being among the hits at the "head" of the Long Tail and among the less-popular, niche-rich Long Tail, as we are.
The Long Tail vision sounds great for companies like Netflix, iTunes and Amazon, that aggregate everything -- far more than any bricks-and-mortar store could. These companies and their customers get a huge choice, often collaboratively filtered.
But the Long Tail doesn't really do much for a guy like me. Here I am, creating little films, once every few years. And then throwing the film into the mix, way down there in the Long Tail. If I'm lucky, the collaborative filtering engine recommends us to new fans once in a while. Most likely not.
While the Long Tail companies amass a seemingly endless catalog, we still have to do the heavy lifting of creating an audience for our projects. We're just one among hundreds of thousands to them -- buried under the weight of all the other little guys.
So you see, the Long Tail is really no friend of ours.
Essentially, we just sit there forgotten, plugged into a certain dark and foul-smelling orifice somewhere under the Long Tail.
Bottom line: Get out there and build the audience -- don't expect them to come to you just because your DVD is at Amazon, Netflix, etc.
Comments