Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Pop culture depends on scarcity. When there are only a few TV stations or a dozen radio stations, it’s likely that many of us watch or hear the same thing at the same time.

And so a popular TV show or song from fifty years ago probably reached twenty times as many people as a popular hit today.

But the long tail brings other benefits. More choices, more innovation.

Not just a long tail of consumption, but also a spectacular decrease in the cost of production. Innovations in computers, cameras and AI mean that people can make content without permission from a gatekeeper.

In the latest AI breakthrough, here’s a recent Paul McCartney song ‘updated’ to use the voice of a young Paul McCartney.

You can hear a quick snippet here:

While this is technically amazing, what it highlights is that within a few weeks, we’re going to see thousands (or millions) of new songs created by AI and available on YouTube and streaming channels. Some of them will be mediocre. Some will be breakthroughs. And a few will be hits.

Creating music (or writing) is an inherently human activity, and it doesn’t go away. What does go away, though, is the commercial dynamic of thousands of someones in Nashville or Hollywood hitting it big big big with nothing but a typewriter or a guitar.

The end of pop and the rise of the long tail and AI brings us back a century. Just like it used to be–small circles of people, not mass markets. But this time with endless choice and a business model that is hard to visualize.

PS my friend Paige has a new book out. You can read the digital edition for free with password friend.

That’s what we usually try to do. When technology, comfort, convenience, efficiency and price line up, the market takes care of itself.

On the other hand, seatbelts would never have happened if they weren’t required.

But pizza grew to dominate our diets with no centralized action.

They sell a lot of Tide laundry detergent. Billions of dollars a year, that’s enough pods to reach the moon and back.

Even though Tide usually comes in a big plastic container and weighs many pounds, we keep buying it. That’s because it’s convenient, easy to find and not particularly expensive.

One of the challenges of changing a culture that’s driven by consumption is that people voluntarily choose what to buy next.

And so we get stuck. Stuck with products and systems that we’re not happy with, simply because it’s easier to stick with what we already have. The status quo is the status quo because it’s good at sticking around.

And yet, sometimes we get lucky. Consider this simple product for washing your clothes.

It’s super convenient, even more so than Tide. It’s almost as cheap. It’s dramatically more sustainable. It has a jillion 5-star reviews. And yet, it has a tiny fraction of Tide’s market share (so far).

We can’t buy out way out of the climate crisis, we’ll need to compromise, to invest and to rethink the systems that we depend on.

But every once in a while, you can simply change what you buy, and even better, tell someone else when it works.