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Superstars and the long tail: The impact of technology on market structure in media industries

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  • Weeds, Helen
Abstract
Technological change has transformed creative media industries. Digitization lowers the costs of recording, storage, reproduction and distribution, while computer-based editing facilitates quality enhancement and special effects. Digital technology has altered the distribution of sales in ways that remain poorly understood: while some commentators have highlighted the growth of the “long tail”, others find digitization has raised the importance of “superstars”. This paper develops a theoretical model of differentiated goods with endogenous quality to investigate the impact of digitization on the distribution of firms. It finds that supply-side factors can generate superstars and long tail outcomes, and that coexistence of both phenomena can be explained by either a fall in fixed costs for basic products or a decline in market size.

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  • Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Superstars and the long tail: The impact of technology on market structure in media industries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 60-68.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:24:y:2012:i:1:p:60-68
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2012.01.008
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    Cited by:

    1. Simon P. Anderson & Bruno Jullien, 2015. "The advertising-financed business model in two-sided media markets," Post-Print hal-02866192, HAL.
    2. Katz, Raúl L., 2013. "Broadband, digitization and development," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37062, May.
    3. Alexei Kolokolov, 2011. "Futures hedging: Multivariate GARCH with dynamic conditional correlations (in Russian)," Quantile, Quantile, issue 9, pages 61-75, July.
    4. Galperin, Hernán & Katz, Raúl L., 2013. "The demand gap: drivers and public policies," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37060, May.
    5. Viecens, María Fernanda & Galperin, Hernán & Mariscal Avilés, Judith, 2013. "National broadband plans," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37065, May.
    6. Bustillo, René, 2013. "Net neutrality: debate and policies," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37067, May.
    7. Helen Arce Salazar & Leon Oerlemans, 2016. "Do We Follow the Leader or the Masses? Antecedents of the Willingness to Pay Extra for Eco-Products," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 286-314, July.
    8. Flores-Roux, Ernesto M., 2013. "Mobile broadband: the urgent need for speedier roll-out," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37063, May.
    9. Jordán, Valeria & Rojas, Fernando & Barrantes, Roxana, 2013. "The shifting digital paradigm in Latin America," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37059, May.
    10. León, Omar de, 2013. "Regional and international connectivity," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37061, May.
    11. Jacques Bughin & Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2024. "Strategic Renewal and Corporate Return of Digital Transformation," Working Papers TIMES² 2024-071, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. Bustillo, René, 2013. "The advance of cloud computing," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37068, May.
    13. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E. & Menter, Matthias & Wirsching, Katharine, 2021. "Intrapreneurship and absorptive capacities: The dynamic effect of labor mobility," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Choi, Daewon, 2013. "Broadband and industrial policy: the Korean experience..," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37066, May.
    15. Viecens, María Fernanda & Ganuza, Juan José, 2013. "The challenge of over-the-top content and services," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37069, May.
    16. Helen Weeds, 2016. "Is The Television Licence fee fit for Purpose in the Digital Era?," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 2-20, February.
    17. Colciago, Andrea & Etro, Federico, 2013. "Cloud computing, structural change and job creation in SMEs," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37064, May.
    18. -, 2013. "Broadband in Latin America: Beyond Connectivity," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 35899 edited by Eclac, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digital media; Creative industries; Superstars; Long tail;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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