The internet has radically democratized the means of marketing cultural products. Enormous advertising budgets are no longer necessary to get the word out about a new release; companies can connect directly with vast numbers of current or potential consumers through Twitter, Facebook, or whatever virtual communities may be relevant for their target audience.

Indeed, I previously found that these changes have significantly eroded the size-based advantage enjoyed by dominant players in the culture industries. My 2017 paper (co-authored by Henrich Greve, INSEAD professor of entrepreneurship), also the subject of an INSEAD Knowledge article, showed how in the world of e-book publishing, the Big Five companies (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House) derived less sales advantage from their relative clout than smaller presses did from user-generated buzz on Twitter and Amazon.

 …