The article conflates artists/content creators, publishers, and aggregators and use one or the other when it suits its argument. There are YT videos on any sub

The article conflates artists/content creators, publishers, and aggregators and use one or the other when it suits its argument. There are YT videos on any subject available, and then some. Many people post videos that have very few views, while at the same time, some creators addressing super niche content become wildly successful. To pick one example among millions, The Lockpicking Lawyer has become a meme ("nothing on one, click on two..."), and who would argue picking locks isn't part of the Long Tail?? It's possible to self publish and print on demand books that would never have existed before. Not in 1990, not in 2000, and not even in 2010. (I published one last year, sold around 1000 copies: that's the Long Tail right there!) Film producers are looking at hits? Of course they are. But you can find shorts on Vimeo that are innovative and original, and before our current age there was no way to discover such films except go to festivals, and watch only the films that had been selected by the organizers. Etc. To argue that the Long Tail didn't pan out is simply ridiculous.