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saved by5 people, first byMatt Clifford on 2006-08-08, last bylauren78 on 2008-07-23

  • What happened? In short, Amazon.com recommendations. The online bookseller's software noted patterns in buying behavior and suggested that readers who liked Into Thin Air would also like Touching the Void. People took the suggestion, agreed wholeheartedly, wrote rhapsodic reviews. More sales, more algorithm-fueled recommendations, and the positive feedback loop kicked in.
  • This is not just a virtue of online booksellers; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for the media and entertainment industries, one that is just beginning to show its power.
  • Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service, from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo! Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody.
  • For too long we've been suffering the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare, subjected to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. Why? Economics. Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply-and-demand matching - a market response to inefficient distribution.
  • The Long Tail 
  • combining infinite shelf space with real-time information about buying trends
    and public opinion. The result: rising demand for an obscure book.
  • entirely new economic model for the media and entertainment industries, one that
    is just beginning to show its power. Unlimited selection is revealing truths
    about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service,
    from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo!
  • Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody. People are going deep
    into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what's
    available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the
    more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path,
    they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had
    been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven
    culture).
  • 1,500 people over a two-week run
  • two copies of a CD per year
  • on 2006-08-08 Umberto
    Article discussing the new-found importance of nice markets on mass, e.g. Amazon's thousands 'unpopular' books that collectively sell as many copies as bestsellers.
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