Wortham, Jenna.  "Music Games for iPhone Give Artists New Spotlight."  The New York Times.  22 Dec. 2008.

This article offers an in-depth look at a successful iPhone application and the effect that it has on users.  Wortham describes an iPhone app start-up, Tapulous, which created Tap Tap Revenge, a guitar hero of sorts for the iPhone.  In the game, players tap certain colors on the screen to "play" popular songs.  By the end of 2008, it had amassed the most downloads of any free app (300 million) and was possessed by 32% of iPhone users.  As a result, the creators have reached out to the niche market and created paid Tap Tap games of specific artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Dave Matthews Band.  The author also discusses the creation and success of Tap Tap Thursdays, an event in which new or unknown music is released within the game.  Players can click through to Apple in order to purchase the songs directly to their phone.  An example is cited of the Katy Perry song "Hot N Cold" being downloaded 50,000 times after being featured on this day.

Tapulous reveals much about iPhone applications, especially with respect to Tap Tap Thursday.  The underlying theme of Tap Tap Tuesday can be seen as an extension of Chris Anderson's theory of the long tail.  Users become exposed to this music because it is embedded within the game and often, will not have listened to it before.  By allowing users to click directly through to the iTunes music store, they reiterate the immediacy that the iPhone offers.  This game was the most downloaded game from the App store and one would wonder why this is.  Perhaps, the fact that this game is accessible to all ages leads it to have a mass appeal.  Also, it's similarity to popular games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero is striking, which reveals the use of already popular ideas in the creation iPhone apps.  As an evolution of these games, Tap Tap Revenge provides artists with an internet age mobile stage.  In the future, music apps for mobile phones might be the best way for artists to promote themselves.  Similarly, an app created by The Presidents of the United States of America, a rock band, allowed their fans to stream their music and look up tour dates.  Apps like these are yet another example of the way that the divisions between different media are gradually being erased.

Anderson, Chris. “The Long Tail.” Wired Magazine Issue 12.10. October 2004. < http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html>

Chris Anderson’s article “The Long Tail” (later expanded into a book) introduces the idea of the growing importance of the Long Tail in the way that media is marketed on the internet. It posits that the internet has allowed for a new profitability of the non-“hit” 80% of entertainment product (books, music, DVDs). Ultimately, he argues that the incorporation of the Long Tail into business and marketing models has been advantageous for the entertainment industry, the consumer, and for “culture” as a whole.

The concept of the rising profitability of the Long Tail is a major one in any argument regarding new music marketing on the internet. The Long Tail model is a fundamental example of the way that online consumption of media has changed (and, it is argued, improved) the music industry as a whole. Since 2004, when Anderson first coined his Long Tail idea, we have seen the effects of Amazon, Netflix, and iTunes’s feedback mechanisms for identifying taste and suggesting a focus on less-popular items. Clearly, the exploitation of the Long Tail by these distributors proves the profitability of internet-specific marketing models. Further, I believe that the growth of the Long Tail model has been a taste-making mechanism in the generations that have embraced these internet vendors—not only has the use of the Long Tail shaped marketing initiatives, but it has changed the way the consumer defines their own taste.