I started reading Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail a little while ago, and so far it’s really good. I still remember reading the original Wired article, and thinking it was pretty darn smart. One of the best things about the book is that Chris has sort of continued it online, using his blog. A couple days ago he posted an update on the state of mainstream media:

A couple times a year, I take a statistical look at mainstream entertainment and media in decline. All figures are year-on-year comparisons unless otherwise noted.

He has some really fascinating numbers, though I suppose less fascinating once you grok the long tail. TV, Music, Radio, DVDs, and Newspapers are all down. Magazines and Books are mixed (and The Long Tail itself has cracked the top ten). Only Videogames, Internet advertising, and the Box Office are up (and the box office is still down from 2004).

I am pleasantly surprised to find that, at least so far, the book is more about economics and less about business. The idea of the long tail just makes so much intuitive sense to me – it really is about economics. I’ll hopefully post a review when I finish it later this week.

Read: The Long Tail