"Wired" editor and "The
Long Tail" author Chris Anderson talks with publisher
Will Hearst about how user-created content is changing the
landscape of mass media.
"The power law is the shape of our age," according
to Anderson - a few things sell in vast quantity, while a
great many things sell in small quantity. It's the natural
product of variety, inequality, and network effect sifting,
which amplifies the inequality.
"Everything is measurable now," said Anderson,
the "long tail" of innumerable tiny-sellers is populated
by old hits as well as new and old niche items. Old stuff
is more profitable because the acquisition cost is lower and
customer satisfaction is higher. Infinite-inventory Netflix
occupies the sweet spot for movie distribution, while Blockbuster
is saddled with the tyranny of the new.
The Changing Face of Media Distribution
Anderson explains that we are leaving an age where distribution
was ruled by channel scarcity - 3 TV networks, only so many
movie theater screens, limited shelf space for books. "Those
scarcity effects make a bottleneck that distorts the market
and distorts our culture.
Infinite shelf space changes everything."
Books are freed up by print-on-demand
Movies freed by cheap DVDs, old broadcast TV by classics
collections, new videos by Google Videos and YouTube online.
Game machines are now designed to be able to emulate their
earlier incarnations, so you can play the original.
Web 2.0 Is Changing Media Filters
"I'm an editor of a Conde-Nast magazine [Wired] AND
I'm a blogger," said Anderson. He works both in the fading
world of "pre-filters" and the emerging world of
"post-filters."
Pre-filtering is ruled by editors, A&R
guys ("artist and repetoire," the talent-finders
in the music biz), studio execs, and capital-B Buyers.
Post-filtering is driven by readers,
recommenders, word of mouth, and buyers.
Social networking software has automated word of mouth. Marketing
power is now in the hands of customer recommendations. It
is the main driver for Netflix, and it is zero-cost marketing.
The tools of distribution have changed. We are just starting
to find out just how rich society is in terms of creativity.
Anderson agrees that we "collect strongly and narrowly
around our passions now, rather than just weakly and widely
around broadcast hits, but the net gain of overall creativity
is the main effect, and a positive one".
Digital Copyright
Digital rights are being hotly debated, as media posters
on YouTube and MySpace are being laser targeted to remove
power centers by those wishing to hold onto the content creator
domain.
Clearing copyright has not immediate solution in sight. Will
Hearst claims "we may be becoming an opinionocracy, swayed
by TV bloviators and online bloggers, losing the grounding
of objective reporting.
The answer according to Anderson is "maybe the two-party
system"
