Interesting article on the only true way for niche creatives/producers to profit from the Long Tail (which apparently has been a boon so far for those who can aggregate the long tail, such as Amazon and Netflix): 1,000 True Fans.

My film, Independent America, has done well, thanks to grassroots support, Internet exposure (via Yahoo! News) and broadcast deals.  Without those “assets” — we would have gone straight to DVD and eked out a living on Amazon.com (minimal sales, minimal royalties).

Good fodder for discussion for this class, and for any of you thinking of creating a niche piece of multimedia and hoping to profit from it (or even spread it far and wide through viral marketing).

Posted by: Hanson