2S 1S N 85 © 2017 by the University of Texas Press A Long Tail in the Digital Age: Music Commerce and the Mobile Platform in India Gregory D. Booth Abstract: his article examines human agency, technological change, the market econ- omy, and industrial structure and practice through a case study of one of India’s old- est existing music companies and its historically and regionally distinctive catalogue. I consider the cultural and industrial results of changes in technology and government policy that forced Hindusthan/INRECO into tactical business decisions that positioned the company to take advantage of India’s emergent mobile-download market. he study also examines company sales data (2005–7) and considers the impact of the mobile- phone platform on music consumption. Most of the success of the music industry, which we’ve only just found out, is be- cause of the long tail, having a big catalogue. Sovan Lal Saha, pers. comm., October 4, 2012 Introduction Unlike the relatively small number of big hits in any music market, most of the songs available for consumption in any given week, month, or year attract relatively modest sales. On a sales graph, those songs form the “long tail,” the numerous lists of songs or recordings that follow behind, in ever-lower num- bers of sales, the usually much smaller group of high-earning hits. All com- panies who produce and own recorded music have tails of some length, “back catalogues” of recordings that have sold (and may continue to sell) in limited quantity and that may in fact be in such low demand that the costs of produc- tion and distribution are unrealistic in economic terms. In many instances, such music may remain out of print, existing only in an abstract and potential form as a name in company listings. hroughout much of their careers in the Indian music industry, Sovan Lal Saha (b. 1945) and his father, Chandi Charan Saha (1900–1975), had to ac- cept that the many recordings they had produced did indeed exist only as en- tries in their companies’ catalogues or as rarities owned by record collectors. In some cases, even the master recordings, from which copies might be made, had disappeared. Far from having any economic value, the company’s long AM4801-1st_pp.indb 85 AM4801-1st_pp.indb 85 10/14/16 2:45 PM 10/14/16 2:45 PM