Gagglescape's good friend and co-founder of the unstoppable BarCamp (not BaseCamp as David Crow just kindly pointed out) movement, Tara Hunt, was on CBC radio this morning. The CBC's mid-morning radio show did a piece on the "long tail" phenomenon now manifesting itself on the markets of the world. For those of you who have been sleeping for the last two years or so, the long tail is the segment of the market that in traditional mass-markets was overlooked by big retailers.

Suddenly, because of the Internet and now its derivation, Web 2.0, long tail markets are economically viable - hell, even down right profitable.

One example that Tara and company spoke about was the music industry. In the past, the record industry promoted a few top stars whose sales drove the label's bottom-line. Someone like, say, Madonna, enjoyed huge mass market success. The market has fragmented. Long tail channels now allow ten bands to survive where once one got by. That means more choice for consumers.

Coincidentally, Yahoo ran a story today from Business 2.0's September issue. The title is ''The Smartest Companies to Start Now.'' Some are related to the long tail market:

Jim Breyer, partner, Accel Partners

WHAT HE WANTS NOW: Social-networking sites may be sprouting like weeds, but none yet operates as a bona fide marketplace, with members buying and selling their own creations as much as they blog, link, and post. Breyer, who sits on Wal-Mart's board, is interested in backing an international network for indie artists, musicians, filmmakers, authors, designers, and other creative types from dozens of countries. Ideally, the site would have the download and payment features to create what he calls a "micromarket" for members' wares.

WHAT HE'LL INVEST: $10 million.