hesmondhalgh

• Cultural industries


  The producers of culture; television, radio, music, film, fashion, magazines, newspapers, etc.

  Argued companies involved in cultural businesses were just like any business who wanted to minimise risk and maximize profit
• Commodification


  • Giving a price tag or value to something that was not previously perceived as having a money-related value.
  • the process of “transforming objects and ideas into commodities” which can be bought, sold and exchanged.
  • The cultural industries need to commodify their product in order to work as industries.
  • e.g ideas of romance commodified into romance movies, zendaya seen as a commodity to luxury brands sold as their symbol to attract more customers
• Convergence


  the state of separate elements joining or coming together
• Innovation

  • something new, a change; the act of introducing a new method, idea, device, etc.
  • Hesmondhalgh points out that on the one hand, media companies are looking for a “big hit” that stands out from the competition, on the other hand they don’t want to produce a text that fails to find an audience.
  • media workers tend to be more creative and push products in more innovative directions
  • producers often make texts by creating genre hybrids - can be seen as innovative
  • in order to reduce risk, many strive for innovation
• Conglomeration


  • media landscape where a few, major corporations own nearly all the cultural industries
  • big companies swallow up smaller ones.
  • Hesmondhalgh reports that these companies don’t own everything, nor are they always getting bigger
  • many lead to de-conglomeration - divide a corporateconglomerateinto independent companies.
• Vertical integation


  when companies own all stages of production and distribution

  Hesmondhalgh points out that as budgets for PSB companies have fallen they tend to outsource production
• diversity

  • Hesmondhalgh argues the increase in the number of media products has not necessarily increased diversity
  • e.g most viewers on Netflix still watch a small number of shows, on Spotify people listen to the same songs/ artists
  • argues, on the surface, we do gain more access to diverse media texts, types and representations but there is a tendency of audiences to seek out things that they know and things that are similar (concentration).
  • this is why producers end up using same genre and structure
• diversity

  • diversification of media conglomerates
  • diversity in terms of representation
  • diversity in terms of audience
• cultural industry process


  texts -> symbolic creativity -> symbolic creators -> mediated communication
• cultural industries are either businesses, focused on financial considerations or state-owned and ran by the government (or in partnership withe the government) e.g public service broadcaster
• examples of cultural industries

  1. tv and radio
  2. film
  3. music
  4. print and electronic publishing
  5. video and computer games
  6. advertising, marketing and public relations
  7. web design
• artificial scarcity

  term describing situations where companies involved in the cultural industry will limit and control access to their products in order to drive up profits

  e.g cinema tickets - only people who have bought the ticket can watch

  Copyright laws, time-specific broadcasting

  So producers control circulation more than production.
• symbolic creativity 


  The production of media texts and “the manipulation of symbols for the purposes of entertainment, information and… enlightenment”.

  e.g Television, film, theatre and music
• symbolic creators 


  People who create media content. 
• formatting

  • companies use certain formate to improve chances of success

  e.g genre, star power, serialisation

  • gentlewomen uses same format/layout for all its front covers to make company more recognisable
• criticisms of commodification

  • Hesmondhalgh concerned with ethics of commodification
  • e.g audiences used as free commodities when they participate in media (game shows, reality tv)
  • using audience data as a commodity (companies buy and sell customers internet history)
• horizontal integration


  • allows companies to monopolise particular sector they are in
  • conglomerates buy out smaller companies in the same industry
• circulation


  Circulation is a count of how many copies of a particular publication are distributed. 
• cultural imperialism

  • argument holds that the new way to build an empire is not with armies and flags but with television, music and film.
  • media culture in one country dominates other countries
  • e.g hollywood, western pop music
  • Hesmondhalgh argues that not all cultures consume dominant media products (western culture)
  • points out is that people like to consume localised media and that sometimes overseas companies invest in the production.
  • e.g GQ (ny company) produces British GQ edition
• globalism 


  the universal integration of media through the multicultural exchange of ideas.

  e.g sims speak simlish so they can be consumed in many countries