What happens when the bottlenecks that stand between supply and demand in our culture go away and everything becomes available to everyone?



"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google.



However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know.



The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of what’s commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches.







1 The long tail 15

2 The rise and fall of the hit 27

3 A short history of the long tail 41

4 The three forces of the long tail 52

5 The new producers 58

6 The new markets 85

7 The new tastemakers 98

8 Long tail economics 125

9 The short head 147

10 The paradise of choice 168

11 Niche culture 177

12 The infinite screen 192

13 Beyond entertainment 201

14 Long tail rules 217

Coda : tomorrow's tail 225