RIOTTT is an online social media destination where like-minded users and artists can promote their talents and engage in creative collaboration.

Both Dovetail and RIOTTTannounced their partnership, making footage from a 27 day indie/Hip Hop festival that took place last November available online. Either by instantly streaming from RIOTTT, or by downloading a high-definition from Dovetail.

This is an example of what we were talking about in class, where two different distribution methods are being used together, streaming and peer-to-peer technology. Like Dovetail and RIOTTT are doing, independent bands/arist can promote themselves by streaming low quality videos/live performances or downloadable high quality versions, with may entice the viewer to go to the next concert, buy or download their music. This islow cost way for independent musicians to gain exposure and create a fan base.

Dovetail provides a similar service to Bittorrent, however focusing directly on independent works that have been uploaded by the producer, unlike Bittorrent. RIOTTT, looks similar to Myspace, where a community of like-minded people is formed.

In clonclusion, I feel that it is good that these two technologies are being used inconjunction with each other, but something more exciting could be done with streaming. Rather than just showing the same footage in poorer quality, the festival (a future festival) could be steamed live, with interviews from the band, crowd, etc, and then later a HD version could be uploaded. This is a cheaper way for independant shows to get coverage.

Anderson argues that products that have low demand collectively would be able to make up the market share en order to compete with the few mainstream “hits”. This is only possible if the store has a large enough distribution and an “unlimited” selection.

This is an extract taken from Chris Anderson article on The Long Tail (2004)

“Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service, from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo! Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody. People are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what’s available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path, they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven culture).” Anderson 2004http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

This Long Tail market has been created by the internet, allowing small businesses/ niches to tap in to the market successfully.

I’ve set up this account, and I have no idea how it works!