How long should the tail be

     I enjoy reading the long tail article for this week. The long tail seems to free all audience from commercial market, which follow the rule of the lowest-common-denominator.

            What surprising me is that no matter how small the market is, as long as it is put on the internet market, the profit of small markets make can add up to a huge market. The author pointe out that almost everything is worth offering because it will find a buyer. My question here is that is the profit of selling to only one buyer greater than the cost of offering it? Only when the cost of distribution and manufacture of the product is approaching zero, can it make a profit from few buyers. It is understandable that there is no cost of distribution, package and shelf space for online product but is it really no cost to offer digital content? Especially for those old movie without digital format.

            Another interesting point in the article is that lowering price to pull consumers down the tail. The price of a track can be a lot cheaper than it is now. The author pointed out that compared to free track, a few more cents of track but with a consistent quality, legality and time efficient can compete with free. I doubt it. Like the experiment statistics we saw in class last week, consumers tend to choose free stuff regardless its quality. As long as there is a free music to download, even 20 cents seem to be way more expensive.

            In conclusion, I wondered how low should the price be and how long the tail is can make a profit that add up to a huge market?