Final Podcast: The Long Tail Discussion by S. Petrov

For decades, countless consumers in our society have waded into the swamp of a “hit-driven economy.” In general, people naturally assume or are swayed to accept the notion that whatever product reaches the rankings of “best-seller” or “top-100” must be the best and other products that fail to reach such lofty criteria are therefore not worthy of purchase and are not profitable for the companies that produce them. Nonetheless, according to Chris Anderson’s analysis, this is a general misconception. In reality, the more profitable and better products such as books, music, and videos are often located on “the long tail” or on the opposite side of the megahits. Thus, I further expand upon this ironic reality and accumulate more examples that prove that products on “the shallow end of the bitstream” are deemed to become the foundation for the entertainment industry as online services expand their product availability, create unlimited “shelf space,” and offer more consumer choice by masking the limited choices the mega-hit-carrying retailers offer. - S. Petrov