Music and newspaper industries are scarily similar

I think Anderson is at his best when he writes about the physical constraints of old media and the unfettered nature of new media. I especially like his reference in the book (not this article, unfortunately) to the democratization of the tools of production , in which the price of news must fall because anyone, anywhere, can now “report.” In fact, I’ve been joking about teaching a class called “Reporting by iPhone” which would prove that.

The perspective on the record companies, on page 4, and their onerous infrastructure costs to maintain and stock music retail stores is frighteningly analogous to newspapers. Papers have high infrastructure costs; their traditional model is being shaken by digital media; and digital distribution is threatening to undermine the business model. The biggest difference that I see, ironically, is that newspaper content doesn’t have to be pirated to be free – the news outlets did that themselves. No wonder RIAA is better positioned.

So are top brands like the NY Times and WSJ “hits?” Or are only the top brands within the top brands hits, like columnist Maureen Dowd at the Times? And what’s the value in news of user recommendations – are those good or bad for national news outlets? Local news outlets? I think Chris Anderson’s ruminations are really interesting because, without offering a roadmap, they at least lay out how things are, and why.

This book, the Long Tail, is the straw that convinced me to join Netflix. My selections are way down at the end of the long tail… I prefer TV series from the 60s, 70s and 80s, like MacGuyver and the original Mission Impossible. But for $5 a month I can get that, thanks to the infinite shelf space of digital information. I rarely make selections based on the recommendations, but it happens. I liked the Mel Gibson movie “Payback” and Netflix recommended “Point Blank” – the 1967 original of the same story. Ditto with “Ocean’s 11.” Now the original movies, starring Lee Marvin and the Rat Pack, are among my favorite movies. I don’t think the tattooed, pierced guy at the video store could have recommended those flicks, and I know the store wouldn’t have had them in stock.