The Long Tail and Wikinomics

• What is Chris Anderson's theory of The Long Tail? 

Anderson's theory of the long tail is that people are now buying more 'niche' products rather than focusing on the mainstream products at the head of the tail. Therefore this creates the long tail effect on a graph showing how mainstream products and niche products should be equal at each end of the tail. Anderson also says before the internet shops would only stock bestselling CD's, DVD's or books.
He also points out that we expect a hundred percent availability these days as to what we buy online, and that we will buy it no matter what it costs. now mostly everything is available online to buy, not just the mainstream products so we have a wider range as to what we can buy therefore we buy exactly what we want, old or new.

• What does the long tail theory mean for the music industry and other areas of media such as online television?

This theory for the music industry means, that people are now able get so many things online now the peak of the long tail is rapidly thinning. This is because people can find many more upcoming artists music which may not be availiable to the mainstream market, therefore poeple tend to search online more to find these tracks and do not contribute to the peak of the long tail.
Also now that nearly all types of music is available online, people buy more singles rather than going out to buy the albums, this decreases and largely effects the sales of CD's of mainstream artists.
For other media such as online television their mainstream market is effected however, they use this to their advantage by allowing viewers to consume television online easily. This encourages their viewers to engage more with television which is not comsumed online.

• What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams' theory of Wikinomics?

 It explains how mass collaboration is happening not just on websites like Wikipedia and YouTube, but also at traditional companies that have embrased technology to breathe new life into their enterprises.

• What are the big 5 ideas of wikinomics and how might these be applied to the music industry?

Peering - the free sharing of material on the internet. This is shown in the music industry by sites such as youtube and illegal file sharing on places like limewire.
Free creativity - is a natural and positive outcome of the free market so attempting to regulate and control online remix creativity is like trying to hold back the tide. Applying it to the music industry shows when various people do covers of popular songs or create their own version using different peices of music.
The media is democratised by peering, free creativity and the we media journalism produced by ordinary people.
Thinking Globally - Web 2.0 make s this inevitable as the internet is like the worlds biggest coffee house, an instant global communication sphere.
Perfect Storm - is what all these things result in, which creates such a force that resistance is impossible, so any media company trying to operate without web 2.0 will be like a small fishing boat on the sea during a freak meteorological occurrence.