Last week I posted my brief thoughts on a Slate article that said the Long Tail might be all for nothing.

As a follow up a few links have been shared through a mailing list I’m subscribed to and I figured I’d share them here:

The Slate article was based on a study by Anita Elberse who’s article can be found here in Harvard Business Review.  Chris Anderson, author of “The Long Tail”, replied here and Anita responded to him here.

Seth Godin spoke up in defense of the Long Tail with this point:

A lot of people don’t seem to understand a key implication of the long tail: Given the choice, it’s better to make a hit.

If you have a choice of cutting a top 10 record or making a track of Jamaican polka music for iTunes, go for the hit.

The “Long Tail” theory may be bunk:

It’s true that we’re now buying more obscure movies and music than ever before. But we’re merely nibbling on these niches, Elberse reports, while we continue to gorge on a small selection of hits. In 2007, 24 percent of the nearly 4 million digital songs available for sale through stores like iTunes sold only one copy each, and 91 percent of available tracks sold fewer than 100 copies each. The story is the same for the movie business, where, between 2000 and 2005, the number of titles that were purchased only a few times “almost quadrupled.” The Internet offers us a buffet of everything—and yet we’re mainly settling for the likes of The Love Guru and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.

Instead of the long tail being bunk, it seems that in order for the long tail to work one must access the big head, whether that be a large company providing the access (Amazon) or a large outlet shining light (New York Times).  The Long Tail needs a Tipping Point to work.

That’s not to say the long tail should be ignored, but I think it’s a fallacy to rely upon ONLY the long tail, as Ron Paul experienced and as Barack Obama might be realizing very shortly…

UPDATE: As Shaun also notes, “it’s all about message control.”