Monday 20 February 2012

The Long Tail & The Wikinomics

1. What is Chris Anderson’s theory of ‘the long tail’?
Chris Anderson theory states that due to broadband internet allowing more people to look for/share/buy a wider range of products, people are buying less of more. This in turn means that our culture and economy are increasing shifting away from focusing on mainstream products and are moving toward niche products. 'Niche' materials are cheap to distribute and also offer a range of filtering services to help consumers find them, such as blogs, lists, customer reviews etc. The broadband has enabled us to have sufficient access to things, being able to choose from an 'infinite variety. There is a limitless choice of places to buy from. 

2. What does the theory of ‘the long tail’ mean for the music industry and to other areas of the media such as online television?

3. What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ theory of Wikinomics? 
Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams' invented a term called the 'Wikinomics' which describes the mass collaboration and people participating to create material. Althought the 'Wikinomics' is essentially a Web 2.0 phenomenon, it can be extended to our culture and economy.  The first implementation of 'Wiki' is Wikipedia, which is a software owned by nobody, enabling users to collaborate on the wesbite, therefore being constantly updated. It essentially means we are becoming our own supplier, as people are individually and collectively able to program the web. 

4. What are the five big ideas of Wikinomics and how might these ideas be applied to the music industry?

Peering - the free sharing of material between people. An example of free sharing of material in the music industry are social media sharing websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Spotify.
Advantage - cuts down distribution for businesses
Disadvantage - bad for people who want to protect their materials and ideas.

Free Creativity - enabling people to use materials freely. However a service called 'Creative Commons' protects people's material, only allow users to change their material within limits.


Democracy - the media is become democratized with people being able to share and use material freely.  Audiences are able to make their voice heard by commenting on materials.

Globalization -  Web 2.0 enables thinking and sharing globally inevitable, through the use of social media and networking sites.

The combination of three things = Perfect Storm. The perfect storm has meant that any media company that tries to operate without Web 2.0 will not get very far.

Web 2.0 technology
Demographics - young people being grown up in a collaborative virtual world, where technology is natural to them
Economics - development and marketing 

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