I stumbled across this article, There’s No Long Tail on Hypebot.com. The article mostly bored me until I got to the last paragraph regarding business. It stated, “The way the [music] industry is structured today there are too many people and organizations between the artist and the fan, which has the result of increasing the numbers of marginal businesses where the income is spread too thinly.”
Though this may be true in many cases, in the internet business world of today, the concept of the middle man is going the way of the cassett tape. Back in the 1980’s a band needed a record company (consisting of an army of persons), a promoter, a personal manager, a business manager, a tour manager, a publicist, etc., just to have a chance of being heard by their fans. A frustrating thought, unless you compare the record business to my father’s day in the 1950’s. He (Bobby Norris) signed as a Rockabilly vocalist with Capitol Records, and couldn’t even get substantial airplay without paying the stations “payolla.” (Ironically, today, eight years after his death, his records are in a Capitol Records Rockabilly album, and are playing, and sold on the internet.)
The way of the middle man, as we know it will deminish in some business industries (like music), and surface in other business industries like mobile apps. In regards to your business and industry, what role will a middle man play? Social networking and search engine optomization(SEO) has played an important role, but will the SEO business industry be edged out as more people use their apps to find information (like Yelp!) instead of Google?
So, what should you do? First, in your industry, take a step back and see what your fanbase or customer is looking for? Are they looking for more fireworks on stage like KISS, or a band that can act as a bellweather, like the Beatles, in a changing culture? Are you just following the pack, or is there another way to get to your fan (or clients) that others have not addressed. Don’t follow the flow. Have the flow follow you. Second, find your blue ocean and make your competition irrelevant.