Work Due for Monday 27th February

Work Due for Monday 27th February

Use the handouts from the lesson on Monday 20th February and do some online research to answer these questions:

1. What is Chris Anderson’s theory of ‘the long tail’?
The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a "normal" or Gaussian distribution. A long tail distortion will arise with the inclusion of some unusually high (or low) values which increase (decrease) the mean, skewing the distribution to the right (or left).

2. What does the theory of ‘the long tail’ mean for the music industry and to other areas of the media such as online television?
The smaller or "tail" of a product can have more of an effect on the profit margins than the main product or "head". for example when an album is released the sale of singles and merchandise can make up the majority of the profit and account for the success of the project.

3. What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ theory of Wikinomics?
It is program of mass collaboration which allows several users to write and edit information about the same document. It is done in real time and is constantly being update so that the information is more likely to be accurate as it is developed by the many but still has merit.

4. What are the five big ideas of Wikinomics and how might these ideas be applied to the music industry?

1. Openness

In the music business, you can be more open by for example sharing your processes. A number of artists and labels have numerous videos on youtube showcasing their song writing methods. Numerous artists now also have blogs (although some are written by PR people) revealing more about their personal lives. Transparency and openness should help foster a deeper relationship with the fans.

2. Peering

In the music business, you could apply the peering concept by inviting your fans to take part in the creation of your music or perhaps in the planning and arranging of a tour. The latter was put into practice by Frank Musik when in early 2009 he invited fans to give suggestions as to where he should tour. Fans from all over the UK emailed suggestions and from this he created a tour based on user submitted locations. Imagine how you would feel, as a fan, if your chosen location (maybe your favorite bar) was used?

3. Sharing

Freely sharing can heed returns. Giving fans a free song, a free mixtape, a free tour, or generally providing value without expecting an immediate return can contribute to that intimate relationship we mentioned earlier.

4. Acting Globally

For the independent artist, acting globally could involve collaborating with natives of foreign lands to create localized versions of the same song. RMXPLAY could also remix an English folk song into a Bhangra song for example. While localization seems to be counterintuitive to the concept of globalization - where cultures are being diluted and unified - it can also be the driving force of unification. Because every time a song is localized, it retains some of the original culture.

Summary

The 4 key drivers of Wikinomics are not new. However they are yet to be fully exploited by the music industry to the same extent as they have been in the world of software development for example. Web servers have Apache. Why don’t music producers have an equivalent for sequencing and producing music? The music industry is lagging behind but so are a number of other industries.

The trends are clear and we must begin to flow with the water, not against it. People want to have more information, freedom through choice, and flexibility (Openness). People want to collaborate and share with each other (Peering and Sharing). And Lastly, people want the same opportunities regardless of location (Acting Globally).