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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2024‒07‒15
five papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Kobi Abayomi |
| Abstract: | Digital delivery of songs has radically changed the way people can enjoy music, the sort of music available for listening, and the manner by which rights holders are compensated for their contributions to songs. Listeners enjoy an unlimited potpourri of sounds, uniquely free of incremental acquisition or switching costs which have been replaced by subscription or rentier fees. This regime shift has revealed listening patterns governed by affinity, boredom, attention budget, etc.: instantaneous, dynamic, organic or programmatic song selection. This regime shift in demand availability -- with the commensurate translation of revenue implications -- deprecates current orthodoxy for content curation. The impulse to point-of-sale model is insufficient in a regime where demand revenue is proportional to demand affinity and each are strongly dependent time series processes. We explore strategies & implications -- which are generalizable to any media rights holding firm -- from a prediction & optimization point of view for two straightforward demand models. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2406.09226&r= |
| By: | Salvaggio, Salvino A. |
| Abstract: | This brief article explores the absence of the Chief of Staff (CoS) role in performing arts organisations and reviews the key scientific literature on the role and functions of a CoS. It examines the potential benefits of introducing a CoS, such as improved operational efficiency, better alignment between artistic and administrative functions, and enhanced communication. The paper discusses the role definition of a CoS and outlines the challenges and limitations of implementing this position in a cultural setting, including resistance from staff, budget constraints, cultural differences, and the complexity of measuring impact. Ultimately, it argues that a CoS could significantly enhance the strategic and operational effectiveness of performing arts organisations. |
| Date: | 2024–06–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:t5nr6&r= |
| By: | Manon Châtel (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon) |
| Abstract: | This chapter proposes to investigate filming activity – that is activity of filming audio-visual content on a place – and in particular, the places' intents. Indeed, public authorities through different dedicated organizations (Film Commissions, Film Offices) try to instrumentalize films and series for different purposes, including the one we are interested in: having an impact on the place's image, notably cities. The literature related to place marketing, and especially destination marketing, includes numerous contributions on the potential impact of films and series on place image. However, research on the views and actions of public authorities is almost non-existent; consequently, we raise the question of these authorities' intents regarding filming activity and the projected image. Through a qualitative exploratory study conducted in 21 French places, at different institutional levels, we were able to highlight three major intentions related to place-image management: 1) to create, 2) to modify, and 3) to maintain their current projected image. These strategic intentions are discussed, points of attention are identified, and management recommendations are proposed. |
| Keywords: | Places Image, Place Marketing, Filming Activity, Film Commission |
| Date: | 2024–05–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04594951&r= |
| By: | Shivam Somani |
| Abstract: | The console gaming industry, a dominant force in the global entertainment sector, has witnessed a wave of consolidation in recent years, epitomized by Microsoft's high-profile acquisitions of Activision Blizzard and Zenimax. This study investigates the repercussions of such mergers on consumer welfare and innovation within the gaming landscape, focusing on product quality as a key metric. Through a comprehensive analysis employing a difference-in-difference model, the research evaluates the effects of acquisition on game review ratings, drawing from a dataset comprising over 16, 000 console games released between 2000 and 2023. The research addresses key assumptions underlying the difference-in-difference methodology, including parallel trends and spillover effects, to ensure the robustness of the findings. The DID results suggest a positive and statistically significant impact of acquisition on game review ratings, when controlling for genre and release year. The study contributes to the literature by offering empirical evidence on the direct consequences of industry consolidation on consumer welfare and competition dynamics within the gaming sector. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2406.02525&r= |
| By: | Emily Silcock; Abhishek Arora; Luca D'Amico-Wong; Melissa Dell |
| Abstract: | In the U.S. historically, local newspapers drew their content largely from newswires like the Associated Press. Historians argue that newswires played a pivotal role in creating a national identity and shared understanding of the world, but there is no comprehensive archive of the content sent over newswires. We reconstruct such an archive by applying a customized deep learning pipeline to hundreds of terabytes of raw image scans from thousands of local newspapers. The resulting dataset contains 2.7 million unique public domain U.S. newswire articles, written between 1878 and 1977. Locations in these articles are georeferenced, topics are tagged using customized neural topic classification, named entities are recognized, and individuals are disambiguated to Wikipedia using a novel entity disambiguation model. To construct the Newswire dataset, we first recognize newspaper layouts and transcribe around 138 millions structured article texts from raw image scans. We then use a customized neural bi-encoder model to de-duplicate reproduced articles, in the presence of considerable abridgement and noise, quantifying how widely each article was reproduced. A text classifier is used to ensure that we only include newswire articles, which historically are in the public domain. The structured data that accompany the texts provide rich information about the who (disambiguated individuals), what (topics), and where (georeferencing) of the news that millions of Americans read over the course of a century. We also include Library of Congress metadata information about the newspapers that ran the articles on their front pages. The Newswire dataset is useful both for large language modeling - expanding training data beyond what is available from modern web texts - and for studying a diversity of questions in computational linguistics, social science, and the digital humanities. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2406.09490&r= |