Cultural Industries articles summary

Cultural (& Creative) Industries
- Cultural goods are not simply utilitarian goods
- A business model reveals the logic for creating and capturing value as well as the
organization’s approach to renewal  not only organizational device


Modeling cultural industries – Throsby
How economic approaches to interpreting creative and cultural industries can lead to reasonable basis for defining
them. Is it possible to find a common core group of industries on which all models can agree? Depending on the model,
different industries are included which can change the size of the economic contribution of the industries

- Industry in economic theory  a product group  goods and services with some
common characteristics that make them complements or substitutes in
consumption
 An industry comprised of individuals and enterprises that produce a defined
product
- Cultural industries  UNESCO  industries that combine the creation, production
and commercialization of contents which are intangible and cultural in nature
 Human creativity + transmission of symbolic messages to consumers +
intellectual property
 Goods or services protected by copyright  central to promoting and
maintaining cultural diversity and ensuring democratic access to culture
- Cultural goods & services
 Requires input of human creativity  original ideas and ways to interpret the
world
 Vehicle for symbolic messages  more than simply utilitarian
 Contain intellectual properties  attributable to those who produce it
 Cultural value  goods are valued by those who make them and those who
consume them  further than purely economic  identifying it can
distinguish a cultural product from others
 Transcends purely economic valuations
- Creative industries  have origin in individual creativity, skill, talent and have
potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of
intellectual property (DCMS 2001)
 Human creativity + goods & services + commercial use
- Creative goods & services  creativity involved for more commercial and
utilitarian purpose and value
 Only need human input to satisfy cultural criteria
- Cultural VS Creative
 Different estimates of contribution based on how the industries are defined
 Policy implication  economic VS cultural objectives
 Economic analyses  supply VS demand perspectives




 Models of cultural industries

, - UK-DCMS model  defined as those requiring creativity, skill and talent, with
potential for wealth and job creation through exploitation of their intellectual
property
 Prefer term “creative” for policy reasons
- Symbolic Texts model  high VS popular cultural based on power dynamics in
social class, gender and race (EU & UK)
 How processes by which a society’s culture are formed and transmitted via the
industrial production, dissemination and consumption of symbolic texts or
messages  conveyed by means media such as film, broadcasting and the
press


- Concentric Circles model  the cultural value
of cultural goods give industries the most
distinguishing characteristics
 The more pronounced the cultural content
the stronger is the inclusion within the
industry
 Originate in sound, text & image
 From cultural core to commercial outside


- WIPO Copyright model  Whether industries are directly or indirectly involved in
the creation, manufacture, production, broadcast and distribution of copyrighted
works  intellectual property
 Distinction between producers of goods VS necessary distributers 
interdependent industries
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics model  5 core cultural domains  cultural and
natural heritage, performance and celebration, visual arts, crafts and design,
books and press, audiovisual and digital media
 Extends to related domains of tourism, sport and leisure
- Americans for the Arts Model  arts-centric businesses involved with the
production and distribution of the arts
 Developed to demonstrate the importance of arts in the US for regional and
local economies


Depending on the model, different industries are included which can change the size of the economic contribution of
the industries

 Model definition analysis  Symbolic + Concentric + WIPO  common
(enough) in overall coverage of cultural production sectors in their
definitionsd
 NOT when defining “core” cultural industries  only film, music and video
 Cultural policy
- Change in policies surrounding cultural industries  skepticism VS essential to
economy
 Economic liberalization and technological advance (globalization)
 Governmental search for new industries for economic growth

,  Economic government policies view cultural industries as utilitarian  artistic
growth and cultural objectives allows for differentiation of cultural core
 Economic impact of cultural goods still remains theoretical and not empirical
 Cultural policies need to find balance between economic and cultural value
creation  supply side or reception of cultural goods

 6 economic analysis of cultural industries
 Useful for locating the creative sector within the macro economy and
formulation of industry policies  influenced by model of cultural industry
- Industrial organization theory  measure of standard economic variables of
collected data through statistical agencies  gross value of production, value
added, fixed capital formation, level of employment for categories of labor,
business concentration etc
 Structure  organizational characteristics of markets  buyer VS seller
concentration, product differentiation, marketing competition of products
 Performance  firm efficiency in adjusting to demands
 Relevant for models oriented towards commercial productions of cultural
goods and services
 Market concentration, barriers to entry and exit, degree of competition
- Value chain analysis  dynamic multistage model  initial creative ideas are
combined with other inputs to produce a creative good that may pass through
other value-adding stages until it reaches the final consumer
 UIS model cycle  creation, production, dissemination, exhibition/reception,
consumption/participation, archiving/preserving, education/raining
 Used to analyze performance in different stages of the production cycle
- Inter-industry analysis  input VS output analysis
 Output from one sector as input into another (spillovers)
 Few tables for entire economies and arts are generalized or not included at all
 needs congruence between model’s industry specification and relevant input-
output table
 Requires high levels of data aggregation
 Social accounting matrices (SAMs)  secondary tool for inter-industry
analysis of effects on economic change which requires less data
 Used to evaluate economic impact of cultural policy
- Locational analysis
 Cluster of industries in specific locations caused by demand and supply in the
market  tourists and benefits
 Used by governments to attract cultural industry clusters (Hollywood)
- Contract theory and property rights  identifying property rights as a basis for
contractual arrangements that can be explained by uniqueness of cultural
industries (Caves)  need for making deals at every point along the cultural value
chain (WIPO)
 Uncertainty of demand (nobody knows)  irrational labor market, product
differentiation (and skills), durability
 Art-for-arts-sake  creative workers care for the quality of their products
 For development of optimal contracts with value-chain partners
- Trade and development