The thing about the long tail feels like it's off by a few degrees. Maybe even 180.
The problem is not that there isn't a long tail. It's that corporates quickly got good at monetising our fractured counter cultures. To the point where they just don't feel very 'counter' any more. How radical is it if your outré tastes in music come from algorithmically curated playlists? Or if you're subscribing to an edgy writer through Substack? Or watching Korean cinema on Netflix? Or reading a racy novella on your Kindle?
I'm not sure how the writer can argue that there isn't a more diverse array of cultural output finding a greater audience now than before. Or that creators don't have a better chance of finding an audience or making an income now. Is it easy? No! But is it *easier*? Absolutely. Our world is full of creators carving out small niches through a whole range of platforms: Etsy, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. And making reasonable livings doing so. It's just that to do so, they have to funnel their output through a corporate lens and dance for the algorithms as much as their audience.
The thing about the long tail feels like it's off by a few degrees. Maybe even 180.
The problem is not that there isn't a long tail. It's that corporates quickly got good at monetising our fractured counter cultures. To the point where they just don't feel very 'counter' any more. How radical is it if your outré tastes in music come from algorithmically curated playlists? Or if you're subscribing to an edgy writer through Substack? Or watching Korean cinema on Netflix? Or reading a racy novella on your Kindle?
I'm not sure how the writer can argue that there isn't a more diverse array of cultural output finding a greater audience now than before. Or that creators don't have a better chance of finding an audience or making an income now. Is it easy? No! But is it *easier*? Absolutely. Our world is full of creators carving out small niches through a whole range of platforms: Etsy, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. And making reasonable livings doing so. It's just that to do so, they have to funnel their output through a corporate lens and dance for the algorithms as much as their audience.