[coldtea]

>Was it only ever claimed that it would eliminate the head?

Did I say "eliminate"?

The "long tail" concept however is not that "some smaller percentage would still buy less popular items if only they were made available". Even metal-polka-combo bands or noise bands making noise by hitting bricks together had some fans, so obviously if such less popular items were available of course somebody would buy them or stream them. That was trivially correct, and uninteresting.

The "disruption" was about how "products in low demand or that have a low sales volume can collectively build a better market share than their rivals, or exceed the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, provided the store or distribution channel is large enough" (Wikipedia)

[majormajor]

Thanks for the link, that’s a more specific claim than I found in the article.

There are a lot of these markets that weren’t being served thirty, forty years ago, so it doesn’t seem so trivial to me to claim that business can exist to serve them. Nobody thought that at the time, given the tech or the time. Becoming cumulatively more popular? I don’t know where you draw the line, but I’d be surprised if the cumulative long tail of video content has not exceeded the viewership of Hollywood movie and TV products for the 30-and-other demographic. Same with Reddit vs major magazines.