Cultural Industries: Product–Market Characteristics, Management Challenges and Industry Dynamics

Abstract

During the last decade cultural industries have grown in economic importance, and research interest in them has increased. Despite prolific research, there is a lack of a comprehensive view on the subject. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. This is achieved through a review of 314 cultural industries studies, whereby a classification system of three main and six sub-categories is constructed. On the basis of the review, a framework for future research is presented. Most importantly, future research should examine selection criteria and selection performance, and explore the relationships between tastes, sales, diversity and quality. In this way, researchers might be able to create some order in the extreme uncertainty that cultural industries managers face. 2 INTRODUCTIONResearch on cultural industries has become increasingly popular. This has been motivated by the growth of the economic importance of such sectors (see e.g. United Nations 2010), by the introduction of cultural and creative industries policies (e.g. DCMS 2008), and perhaps also by researchers' passion for and interest in sectors like film, music and video games.Despite increasing popularity, we lack a comprehensive view of the subject. Some cultural industries researchers emphasize the selection system cultural goods need to pass through to reach audiences (e.g. Hirsch 1972), while others highlight the inherent uncertainty concerning the success potential of any cultural good when they do so (e.g. De Vany 2004). For yet others cultural goods are defined by their non-utilitarian value (e.g. , while many have expressed interest in the conflicts between artistically-motivated creatives and financiallymotivated managers (e.g. Eikhof and Haunschild 2007). Despite a vast and varied body of work, it remains unclear what characteristics make industries cultural, which industries belong under the cultural umbrella, and what phenomena are specific to them. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. Based on this, a framework for future research is presented.Based on a review of 314 cultural industries studies we propose the following definition: Cultural industries are those that produce experience goods with considerable creative elements and aim these at the consumer market via mass distribution. The creative elements consist of stories and styles, and they serve the purposes of entertainment, identity-building and social display. Mass distribution refers to storage and delivery where economies of scale play an important role. On the basis of this definition, the activities belonging under the cultural 3 industries concept include film, music, book and magazine publishing, TV and radio, fashion and video games.There are two features that are specific to cultural...

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