The Long Tail Theory

- The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.

The Long Tail is… an economic principle that reveals a strategy that can be used by creative businesses: sell less of more. That is to say, release a large amount of things that sell in small quantities. To date (and much to everyone’s surprise) the major record labels have grasped this far more quickly than the independents.

The Long Tail is not… the death of the hit. While the niche market expands because the availability of products is greater and greater – to the extent that the sum economic value of all non-hits combined is greater than the sum economic value of all hits combined – that doesn’t mean that the number of hits decreases, or that Britney Spears goes away.