I want to believe in the long tail. I want to believe that at some point in the future, anyone who wants to produce something will be able to, and that instead of just a few movie directors, authors, or musicians finding an audience, there will be many of us creating, many of us who would have never had a chance under the old system. I want to believe that. It’s a nice idea. I’m just worried about the crap.
I started podcasting back in 2005. The idea that anyone could produce a podcast and get an audience was really exciting at the time. The problem is most podcasts are crap. I should know; I’ve produced a lot of crap in the last four years. The iTunes podcast directory’s top 100 is full of podcasts of traditional TV and radio shows. Why? Because they’re better than most of the independent crap that’s being produced. Sure, there are a lot of good independent podcasts, but they’re hard to find. They’re great for reaching niche audiences, but moving beyond the niche is difficult. Maybe they don’t need to.
Can online comments and reviews provide the crap filter that book publishers, magazine editors, record companies, and movie companies have provided over the years? Some would argue that their crap filters have been ineffective, and I’d have to agree. But, at least they keep out the real crap. Comments and reviews can be too easily manipulated, though. There has to be another way.
I’d love to see a future without middlemen between producers and audiences, I just can’t figure out how we’re going to keep the quality up.
The book? Yeah, it’s good. There are some great long tail examples. The idea makes a lot of sense, but ideas that make sense don’t always take over. We’ll see.