Thanks Long Tail

The Long Tail theory is quite interesting. It's interesting because we see it going on all around us everyday. We, as millennials, have grown up witnessing this economic shift in the digital industry. Yet, as a 21-year-old speech-pathology student, I've never even thought twice of the economic shift that was happening right before my eyes. 

As a CSD student, knowing nothing about journalism or the economic side of digital media, what I want to know is how this effects my day to day life. Because the idea of me as a consumer having access to unlimited choices and paying one simple reasonable price seems pretty great. I love that Amazon and Spotify recommend things that I would be interested in or things that relate to my interest or wants. But what about the cons of this Long Tail theory? I guess we could talk about how it effect smaller start-up businesses that are striving to be known. But then again, how does it effect me? Why is this of use to me and why should I care? 
There is no debate that this economic shift of the Long Tail has overtaken the digital industry. It's extremely rare to find anyone who doesn't have a Netflix account, or has yet to order something off of Amazon. I have to say I agree with the three rules to the "new entertainment economy." The three rules faciillate the economy in a way that it meets the wide variety of demands of individual consumers while allowing the consumer to feel that they are unique, known and in control. One thing that I found interesting in this article is this idea that you can now compete with free. I'm sure this concept isn't as new as this article makes it out to be, because this "ah ha! it's not worth it" moment has been here before the millennial age. But, what's interesting to me is how now, new media and old media have to strategize to compete with the free. 

I guess if I tried answering my question "why should I care?" I could sum it up to the benefits of Long Tail. I love Spotify in the sense that sometimes I get sick of all the same music that I listen to. So Spotify offers this thing called "Browse," where I'll get tons of new suggestions based on the music genre that I like. I've discovered a couple of my favorite bands through this feature. So I guess I should care cause the Long Tail is pretty awesome at making me feel like I have choices and control over what I want, and now I know why I feel unique in my music choices. So there we go, Thanks Long Tail.