Zero" is relative newcomer in the rapidly changing online music marketplace. A couple of months ago, we stumbled on their site by accident. So we sent them an email introducing ourselves and thanks to our distribution via IRIS and their appreciation of our catalogue, a couple months onward, our entire catalogue is now online @ zero-inch.com.

Browsing their site, one immediately notices their attention to detail, this is especially evident in the curated feel one has while browsing for new music. Their fuzzy search makes it sooo much simpler than Beatport/KompaktMP3 to find the artist, song titles or label names without having to click a separate dropdown! I mean we're in the age of Google, fuzzy search like should be the standard, not the exception!!!

However, the feature that takes the cake is the tab on CITIES! Yes, cities! So rather than surf based on a priori knowledge of the music you want to buy, look at DJ charts or otherwise emmerde yourself with so-called features that don't help you manage the data-overload. On the cities tab, you can browse cities around the world, for artists and labels, local to that city! We often talk about music scenes, movements past and present from Detroit, Chicago, NYC, London, Berlin, etc.

So I'm very excited about Zero" and even more excited at the smart way they're slicing up data that is already there, to provide a more accessible and natural way of finding new music! Bravo!

This article in the Times Online (UK) presents an interesting discussion on the Long Tail theory. The article claims that the sheer amount of unsold songs available online, shows that the promise of the Long Tail is not being realized.

Upon a closer look at the data, and a scan of the comments, it is clear that in terms of percentages (which is fairly course grained) that the tail based on the available data is not particularly long in comparison to the total amount available material. True. However, the sheer number (we're talking 10s of 1000s) of additional albums, EPs and singles being sold, that otherwise wouldn't be even stocked in your HMV, Virgin or Sam Goody's points to the Long Tail theory is action!

Additionally as has already been pointed out, its perhaps a bit early to be drawing long term or final conclusions as the marketplace is barely nascent!

Full Article @ the timesonline.co.uk