cultural insights - peltoniemi, 2015 Flashcards
creative market dynamics
preferences and how you manage them
sources of revenue
selling creative goods
product placement
subsidies
revenues from goods and others offered on the side e.g. msuem + gift shop
product placement
advertisin goods of other producers
cultural industries
produce experience goods with considerable creative elements and aim these at the consumer market via mass distribution
e.g. book and magazine publishing, TV and radio
subsiedies
other support for what we are
grants, foundations, sponderships
cultural goods purposes
purpose of entertainment
identity building
social display
cultural goods characteristics
low utilitarian value
high aesthetic
symbolic
social meaning
social display value
catering entertainment and identity building needs
cultural goods as experimental
judged on ability to offer fun, enjoyment, pleasure
cultural goods as innovation
constantly introduce different types of goods to please diverse taste
biggest issue of creative industry/goods
persistent oversupply of creative labour, idependent of economic cycles
reason for persistent oversupply
extreme uncertainty of success of potential product
consumers do not have complete information prior to consumption
mass distribution
storage and delivery where economies of scale play an important role
product market characteristic
taste
popularity
gatekeeping
taste
preferences that consumers report cumulatively or inherent
upper class vs lower class taste
highbrow enjoy many different types of products
lowbrow tend to enjoy only a specific type
influence each other
can go from high to low and vice versa
omnivorous
acquisition of cultural taste view
more critical over time
rate prodcts higher specialising in particular genre
nostalgia effect: inheret from parents
Evidence for taste is inate view
predates consumption
evolves in dormant state
- report generally stable genre preferences over time
- neural responses of indv. predict future sales of music
taste separates
accumulating cultural capital vs immediate enjoyment
taste general findings
prefer films with younger
opposite gendered leads
older directors
unfamiliar temporal settings
- star power
- bias towards make artists especially with male consumers
popularity
sales that goods with particular characteristics achieve
hits/misses
5 popularity characteristics
information cascades
intention to purchase
trendsetters
positive word of mouth
investing in advertistment
popularity as signals eg-superstars
superstars and exotic locations
superstar phenomenon
familiarity vs novelty in popularity
to understand vs to enjoy
prequels > book-based fims
greates album hits > recent
popularity and unpredictability of demand
lack of correlation between popularity and quality
information cascades assume similar taste of friends
familiar products less sensitive to information cascades?
gatekeeping + oversupply
as production of culture views
filtering system needed to reduce number of products reaching the market
due to oversupply, experiential nature, limited sense-making resources
extreme variance in sales, heavy upfront investment, production companies reject most aspiring artists
upstream selectors in gatekeeping
companies making contracts
financing creative projects e.g. labels
large generalists vs small specialists
larger advertising budget
- increases sales, retun on advertising dependent on product
selection performance
small specialists characteristics
superior cultural capital
dense information sharing networks
pre-selected arists –> slower to succeed BUT longer lasting
selection performance in upstream selectors
based on artists conforming to genere, not imitatin others, good reputation, conforming to creative prototypes
downstream selectors
decide whether product reaches completion and audience
e.g. media retailers
power of downstream selectors
(+) reviews increase sales, grows with product age, greater for less familiar
(-) influence on consumer expectation
bias of downstream selectors
prefer certain products
earlier collaborators
payola - incentives offered to selectors to cause favor
people characteristic in reaction to downstream selectors
personality traits affect whether you listen to critics
awards differ in effet when granted by consumers, peers or experts
lay critics online influential on niche products
mainstream - volume
niche goods - valence
Two-way relationship between critic and consumer
Critics need to appear knowledgeable → align with consumer taste
management challenges
reconciling artistic and profit goals
suits and creatives
creative labour
work allocation
industry dynamics
sensemaking within the community
interdependence in communities
industry structure and creative outcomes
majors and independents
concentration and diversity
flexible specialisation
digital distribution
art for art’s sake and art for profit
tension between artistic ambition and financial gain
Reconciling artistic and profit goals
- mutually exclusive
Profit motive is absent in sectors where profit opportunities are minimal, prefer wide distribution to profit
Company strategy focused on artistic intent, market considerations
Reconciling artistic and profit goals - complementary
Artist value combination of artistic freedom and pecuniary rewards
Work responds to economic incentives
Validation for creative skills
suits and creatives
Relentless new genres, formats and products, virtually unlimited aesthetic choices, difficulties in monitoring such processes
Ongoing convergence of different cultural sectors
Symbol creators granted autonomy bc of originality and novelty
Managers + corporation have power to redirect and block creative activity
Cultural production companies → dual leadership
Manager with creative backgrounds → innovative performance
‘
Power relations → moderator for art + profit motives + related outcomes
Creative labour → inferior working conditions
Low wages, long working hours, structured job insecurity
Repeatedly drawn back to industry by financial, creative, social and emotional rewards
Stress, anxiety, poor employment relationships
Absence of mentors
Copyright
Artist earn little, corporations earn a lot
Work allocation
Informal networks → path-dependent networks
Inclusion or exclusion?
Repeated collaboration, mutual trust
Career success predicted nu contacts with professionals rather than talent
Gender inequality and discrimination
Women → typecasted
Industry dynamics
Cultural industries as communities
Industry system and organisational field
Sensemaking within the community
Popularity charts, events and award rituals
Fragmentation of styles within a sector
Trade fairs and fashion weeks generate visibility for field, create global circuit
Industry-level sensemaking → encourages homogenization
Change in sense-making → change in selection criteria as upstream selectors want to align with consumer preferences
Interdependence in communities
Actions and outcomes of complementors and competitors, dependence on distributors and platform providers
Local audiences
Less developed taste enable industry emergence
Value chain envy
One stage in chain capturing more than fair share of profit
Within company → homogeneity in production capabilities and organisational structures within an industry
Similarity and differences
Need optimum level of differentiation for uniqueness but sufficiently similar to stay legitimate
Industry structure and creative outcomes
Majors (proven solution) and independent (specialised styles)
Cultural diversity and industry concentration
Majors → secure cash > artistic values → high homogeneity
Flexible specialisation offer specialised inputs
Digitalization
Majors and independents
Skewed distribution in company size
Firms grow faster than employment
Majors grow via acquisitions and partnerships + level of horizontal integration
Artistic and business resources placed in different companies to avoid cross-contamination
Highly differentiated inputs encourage vertical disintegration
Allows majors to cut costs and control markets
Concentration and diversity
High concentration → low diversity and vice versa
Standardisation matter of ownership, result of large markets
Flexible specialisation
Industrial organisation where specialised firms involved in production frequently change to create variety of outputs
Motivated labour unions
Digital distribution
Very narrow loophole to escape corporate control
Need to fulfil consumer need of collecting, ownership ritual for buying, enjoyment from the look, feel, smell of original product
