In der Havard Business Review ist eine Kritik an Chris Andersons Long Tail-Theorie erschienen (siehe „Search inside“: Chris Anderson: „The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More“ / auf Deutsch: „The Long Tail – Der lange Schwanz: Nischenprodukte statt Massenmarkt – Das Geschäft der Zukunft“).
„Should You Invest in the Long Tail?“ fragt Anita Elberse und zieht die Ideen von Chris Anderson in Zweifel:
„In sales of both videos and recorded music—in many ways the perfect products to test the long-tail theory—we see that hits are and probably will remain dominant. That is the reality that should inform retailers as they struggle to offer their customers a satisfying assortment cost-efficiently. And it’s the unavoidable challenge to producers. The companies that will prosper are the ones most capable of capitalizing on individual best sellers.“ (Anita Elberse)
Doch das hat eigentlich nie jemand bezweifelt. Chris Anderson hat gestern im Havard Business-Blog Conversation Starter darauf geantwortet.
Eine spannende Diskussion, zumal das ökonomische Potential des Long Tale doch immerhin eine wenn auch spärliche Begrünung der Bestseller-Wüste verspricht. Für die Buchbranche hatte schon André Schiffrin mit „Verlage ohne Verleger“ die Zerstörung einer anspruchsvollen Buchproduktion durch Renditewahn und Aufgabe der Mischkalkulation beklagt.
Einer der profiliertesten DVD-„Verleger“ in den USA, Dennis Doros von Milestone Films, beschreibt es so:
„The real trick in today’s market is to find why the films are culturally significant and relevant, find a way to express it through your publicity, packaging and marketing, and then work ENORMOUSLY hard getting the word out. What that report is saying really is that it’s just not possible these days to put something out in such a competitive market and expect that there will be enough people to stumble across your product. That’s ALWAYS been true, but if there’s a choice between I AM CUBA for $44.95 or THERE WILL BE BLOOD for $19.95, you have to come up with a very good reason to buy the former. (The multiple choice answer for those who don’t know, is C, that you should buy both!)
And by the way, though this is the justification for archives to work with distributors such as Milestone, Kino and Flicker Alley, I think that the BFI’s success with their commercial division shows that it can be done by other archives. You just have to marry the academic with the commercial and all that entails.“ (Dennis Doros auf AMIA-L)