Isn't YouTube a pretty good example of long tail? Sure, there are some very large channels but also many medium sized channels as well. It seems that these people can make a living this way as far as I can tell.
Music is quite different however as it is a very hard to come up with a successful new musical idea it seems. Musicians are generally either incredibly successful or unknown. I don't think removing barriers (low cost recording, SoundCloud, etc) actually change the situation that much. We would likely have no fewer large and medium sized acts today if we still only had vinyl and radio. Perhaps art in general is naturally winner take all from a commercial standpoint.
Music is quite different however as it is a very hard to come up with a successful new musical idea it seems. Musicians are generally either incredibly successful or unknown. I don't think removing barriers (low cost recording, SoundCloud, etc) actually change the situation that much. We would likely have no fewer large and medium sized acts today if we still only had vinyl and radio. Perhaps art in general is naturally winner take all from a commercial standpoint.