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CLASS 1.2. PRODUCERS (arts and creative industries) - Coggle Diagram
CLASS 1.2. PRODUCERS (arts and creative industries)
WHO CREATES CULTURE
artists, institutions, amateurs & ordinary ppl, creative class, cultural & creative industries
ARTIST vs. INDUSTRY: Tendency to
overemphasize the individual and to overlook the collaborative nature of contemporary cultural production
-> the arts attract more attention than their actual importance in cultural production
Cultural Industry (Adorno and Horkheimer) > cultural industries
(Miège, Garnham and Hesmondalgh): more analytic approach of the way in which production works
CULTURAL INDUSTRIES
: "those institutions that are most directly involved in the production of social meaning via the creation of special works or texts" (media, such as radio, film, tv, journalism + info and enternainement, ads)
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
1930-1960s: huge conglomerates: oligopolies, big 5 studios controlled cinema
1980s: convergences and synergies: conglomerates continue to exist + branch out
(media companies also acquired book publishers & computers)
BUT small independent companies in music and film industry (‘indie’ or ‘arthouse’) BUT later often bought by the large conglomerates
1990s: neoliberalism >> return on public investment + cultural policy should be local: importance of culture to economic regeneration of cities. Left-wing policies of GLC >> neoliberal discourse of creative class
Cultural entrepreneurs as model for workers
Creative cities -> urban regeneration and gentrification
Creative clusters
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
project teams
. Primary personnel: symbol creators + Secondary symbol creators: marketing personnel
Creatives ((musicians, screenwriters, directors, journalists…)
Technical workers (sound engineers, editors, copy editors…)
Creative managers
: mediate between owners and personnel e.g. A&R (Artists & repertoires), commissioning editors, film producers…
Owners and executives hire and fire
–> very limited role
Unskilled and semi-skilled labor
: poorly paid and contracted oversees (e.g., making of CDs)
CREATIVE AUTONOMY vs CONTROL
Project teams have a large degree of creative autonomy but the company tightly controls reproduction and circulation (later stages) of cultural goods >>
commercial vs. creative interests
CULTURAL LABOUR MARKET PROBLEMS
Big gap between professional creatives (older, white, male) VS unpaid workforce (temporary contracts, internships…)
Lack of unionization and labor protection: copyright laws favor companies over artists
Over-rewarding of stars and hits
Digitalization and convergence culture: instead of opening up access, even more power for big ‘tech’ companies and protection of copyrights
MOGULS
Power of the elite (owners)
Manager culture -> fragmented class interests
Allocative control (policy & strategy) versus operational control (lower levels of management who have to implement policies)
Protect their own interests and that of the industry as a whole
Impact on society via content
CONTENT of CULTURAL PRODUCTS
Homogenization (formatting) vs. choice, diversity and multiplicity
Serve different interests: politics (fake news), ads, market segmentation -> social fragmentation
David Hesmondalgh. Cultural and Creative Industries
1. Theoretical approaches of cultural industries
Adorno & Horkheimer
: focus on deception and power of media conglomerates BUTS:
situation is more complex
A&H overlook impact of technical innovation on artistic practices
Have no eye for the diversity of cultural industries
Bernard Miège and Nicholas Garnham (1980-90s)
cultural production, political economy of culture -> study dynamics of CI
PROBLEMS of CAPITAL ACCUMULATION in cultural industries
High risk due to unpredictability
High production costs (prototype) versus low reproduction costs -> blockbuster syndrome
Cultural commodities become ‘public goods’ -> difficult to control circulation (piracy, plagiarism)
ANSWERS in the industry
Building up repertoire (a broad offer of related products)
Use of ‘formatting’ (stars, particular genres, serials)
artificial scarcity (scheduled releases and copyright laws)
2. Cultural industries in cultural policy
UNESCO 1982: international inequality in cultural resources
Local policies tendencies
UK: expanding notion of fine arts to include crafts and community arts (1970s)
Multiculturalism (1980s)
Greater London Council (GLC, 1980s): against elitist and idealist notion of arts (influence of cultural studies!) -> popular taste is defined by commercial culture -> cultural industries must be part of policy
Garnham
:
rather than focus on creators
(=support artists),
cultural policy should focus on distribution and access to culture
(infrastructure: cinemas, libraries…)
NATIONAL CREATIVE industry policies
UK (Garnham) and Australia (QUT): Creative Industries as key growth sector of economy + Key source of employment and export >> a very wide definition of Creative industries
copyright > patents and trademarks (including the pharmaceutical industries)
!!! the original aim of the cultural industries -- to create profit through culture,
the aim of the creative industry -- to make profit via intellectual property
ADVANTAGES:
could construct alliances with small businesses (tech companies) -> protect intellectual property resulting in development of digital cultures
Support for training of creative workers -> policy focus on artists rather than audience-based (infrastructure)
3. Criticism of creative industries
British creative industries policies are inspiration for Northern Europe and China
The creative class is not so uniform as it appears
Competition between creative industries and dream of openness of the internet overlooks real inequalities in access
The problems of contradictory cultural values is not solved by the market -> certain cultural practices must be protected
Growth of creative industries comes with a lot of problems re. creative labor
SOCIOLOGY OF CREATIVE LABOUR
Bill Ryan:
Cultural industries still need artists as producers
, because the essence of the cultural product (artwork) is that it is unique and original, i.e., created by an individual >> relative autonomy for creative workers+ tolerance for the irrationality of artistic process
Andrew Ross: IT companies investment in humane workplace
Angela McRobbie (fashion): emphasis on passion and pleasure, ‘hard work’ goes hand in hand with high degree of self-exploitation