Tastemakers

One-line: Those who set or curate cultural taste — and, in The Hits Business, the advantage that lets a company like A24 capture the zeitgeist rather than chase scale.

How sources describe it

• In The Hits Business Kyle distinguishes a creator/tastemaker (Mr. Beast, MKBHD — who make taste) from a taste connoisseur (A24 — which curates it). Both require a pulse on the market; for entertainment, social media is that pulse.
• The essay’s framing: “You either have tastemaking or you have scale” — a bifurcation it ultimately rejects, arguing the winners increasingly have both.

Where this appears

• The Hits Business — “At the Mercy of the Zeitgeist.”
• The Hits Business - Research

Related concepts

• King-Making vs. Taste-Making — the paired distinction this concept sits inside; tastemaking is the curatorial pole opposite manufacturing/king-making.
• A24 — the essay’s exemplar of a taste connoisseur that curates the zeitgeist rather than chasing scale.
• Monoculture — the shared cultural moment tastemakers aim to capture.
• Auteur Theory — the creator/auteur lens behind the “make taste” vs. “curate taste” split.
• The Hits Business — the essay where this tastemaker/connoisseur framing is developed.