SubscribeArchives: Long Tail
iTunes & Indie content...
Posted in IPTV, Long Tail, News on March 5th, 2007. By Eduard F. Vinyamata.
There was some buzz last week about iTunes opening up to indie filmmakers. It all came from a Variety article reporting how iTunes features “That”, a 40 minute snowboarding production, the first outside their current studio system deals.
Until now all independent content in iTunes was limited to the podcasting section of the store, and independent content producers could not charge for their content. As NewTeeVee reports though, this is far from an open venue for indie producers and filmmakers to sell their contents to. “That” owners had to bargain for 10 months with Apple, there is no DRM negotiation possible, and even price to the public is non negotiable and has to comply with current Apple rates.
Steve O’Hear, who is linked and quoted in the NewTeeVee article summarizes very well how we feel after learning a little bit more about Apple’s “open” venue for Indie distribution:
The thing that frustrates me is that Apple could pretty much own the long tail content market. If you look at what happened when they added podcasting, they — overnight — became the default podcast directory.
Abundance And Scarcity Economics Shape Media Trends...
Posted in Music, Long Tail, News on February 4th, 2007. By Eduard F. Vinyamata.
The perfect example of a Long Tail industry would be the music business, as can be read in a recent article (and in it’s comments) from Chris Anderson. The article explains how abundance and scarcity economics helped some music content creators realize that giving away their music for free, while still profiting on the experience of their live shows, is not as crazy as the music labels want everyone to believe.
With time, this trend may reshape the music industry from the ground up and may catch up in other similar industries under abundance economics. For cinema, television and even the publishing industry, the equivalent of a payed, live music performance could be translated to payed (or sponsored) early/live access to contents before they reach everyone else, for free.