I agree and see the long tail primarily as a "phase shift" from firms back to individuals. Niche works used to be indulged by media corporations as gambles. Th

I agree and see the long tail primarily as a "phase shift" from firms back to individuals. Niche works used to be indulged by media corporations as gambles. They would let the whole thing be fully produced right from the beginning, though often compromising authorial vision in the process or pulling the plug early. Then audiences would gamble with cash to view the work. Occasionally one broke through and you had a surprise blockbuster. Now much more is in the hands of the actual creator, and more stuff is "view for free" and payment is more often driven by secondary merchandising, creating community space or other elements that are ancillary to the work. The average production quality is lower and the medium is often platform defined(social media engagement is now a major component of audience building), but as a creator you have a gamut of choices to stitch together into some business - often one that bypasses gatekeepers. While blockbusters still exist, they're "hollowed out" because most of their good ideas have to be borrowed now. The actual market for the content only became bigger to the extent that we can saturate our eyeballs.