Birth of online fashion magazines

First of all: no I am not very interested in fashion, perhaps I am fairly interested in the clothes I am wearing but I am for from becoming somewhat of a fashion icon. With that said I found some really interesting articles concerning fashion magazines and its movement online. Actually I was lurking around on Myspace kind of randomly and in the process I ended up adding an online fashion model. It’s from her Myspace where I first heard about the articles I am referring to. What I find intriguing is the mentioning of The long tail – which is a theory that started as a blog and became a bestselling and somewhat revolutionizing book with the same name. Explaining the long tail economy is far from easy, since it got depth that would take a long time to understand – I am far from an expert myself but I have read the book and I found it really interesting – especially for someone whose intentions are to be part of the so called music industry. I would really recommend people in the industry as well as people interested in new media to read it.

The long tail economy can easiest be described as going from selling products with a hit-thinking mentality – for example that a physical music store has say for example 1000 cds’ but only benefits from 20% of them. Today, in the digital world, you have to start thinking about selling more of less. It is best described in the graph made for the theory. Basically it is the long tail that is endless and therefore you can benefit from selling one of each product there since there is an endless amount. If you want a far better explanation I suggest reading the book - written by Chris Anderson - or the blog.

Anyhow, the articles I am referring to are the following: article one and two. They’re talking about two fashion magazine that has gone digital and why this progress has been necessary and also has meant a revival within that industry. The mentioning about the long tail economy is interesting since it really shows the development of niche markets and its progression – and that it really doesn’t have to be about big corporate machines digging them­selves through cyberspace. We’re talking about websites with 70 000 hits each month that has been made by one single person – that a community benefits from being small but many. But that is also the unique thing about the long tail – it is the niche society that controls the market since they are the market. It is also interesting that you see it in so many other industries – that they too have walked the same road. Just look upon the music industry – digital music stores that has over 200 000 songs in there possession sell at least one of the songs at least one time – just imagine the benefits. Or smaller music production companies that can handle internet and the tools it brings to utter perfection and create a community based not on money – even if it is there – but the solid ground spelled pure good music. These are the companies that will stay functional forever if they want to, since they always can adapt to the constant changes that is appearing within the industry. I have heard people say that there is no money in the music industry anymore, but I disagree. It is about finding the balance between product, right marketing and a solid base – or for that matter bases’ – which companies need to stand on. It is about adapting to a constantly evolving business. With that said you still need the bases of which an industry has stood upon. Meaning: you can’t use an industry or a market without knowing how it evolved to what it is today. This is what I am looking to understand – because I think it is the key to being revolutionary, to be able to adapt. This is of importance in all the fields that you grip, might it be marketing, song writing or publishing as in an example from my own music production company. In each of these fields you have to understand the movements and the core of the market itself – otherwise I think you end up gripping nothing more then air, chasing shadows. Sure you might be lucky and make it anyway, but you can’t rely on luck even if it does seem like a big factor.