A Brief Critique of Creative Industries Policy and Theory

Outline Adorno and Horkheimer are not the answer Creative industries is not a good term, but it’s the concept we need to critique Commodification as a basis of critique of creative industries policy and theory Critiquing creative labour

A chapter from Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno’s 'Dialectics of Enlightenment' on the culture industry was entitled “Kulturindustrie. Aufklärung als Massenbetrug” – “Culture Industry. Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. When Horkheimer and Adorno wrote their essay in the early 1940s, they were objecting to the growing influence of the entertainment industries, to the commodification of art, and to the totalizing uniformity of “culture”, especially in the country of their emigration, the USA. Their sceptical attitude toward the new media of radio and film moved the two authors to cover, in an eloquent style with cultural pessimistic undertones, a broad range of the cultural field with a concept that could hardly appear more alien in cultural spheres: they named culture as an industry.

Adorno believed that the capitalist nature of society encouraged people to invest in “false needs”; the need to spend money in exchange for happiness. His theories were hugely inspired by his belief in neo- Marxism and, through studying popular music, Adorno formed his own theory on the culture industry; Adorno’s theory of standardization. This theory maintains that, in capitalist society, popular culture (and, by extension, popular music) is standardized, using the same formula to appeal to the masses. Adorno noted that all popular music contained a verse, chorus and bridge, and that these elements were interchangeable without damaging the song. However, this formula did not apply to “serious music”, saying that “every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece“, and arguing that even if one detail is omitted “all is lost”

“By pseudo-individuation we mean endowing cultural mass production with the halo of free choice or open market [sic] on the basis of standardization itself. Standardization of song hits keeps the customers in line doing their thinking for them, as it were. Pseudo- individuation, for its part, keeps them in line by making them forget that what they listen to is wholly intended for them or predigested.“ Adorno

Adorno and Horkheimer are not the answer Origins of term cultural industries: Deliberately plural term, conscious reaction against Adorno and Horkheimer’s singular use of the term. Gets at complexity. Critical and sociological. Saw commodification as ambivalent and as incomplete or contested Far more pragmatic than A&H: analysis of specific conditions of cultural accumulation as basis for policy intervention (infrastructural grassroots support, not artist-centred subsidy)

Creative industries is a concept we need to critique major claim implicit in UK ‘creative industries’ policy: creative industries key new growth sector of the economy therefore a key source of future employment growth and export earnings Shift from ‘cultural’ to ‘creative’ allowed very broad definition: included dance, visual arts, crafts, computer software

Two policy consequences Alliance for strengthening of IP Public support for training: skills Drift away from democratising GLC vision towards urban regeneration goals, on increasingly neo-liberal terms

Clarification: some use cultural industries for creative industries policy; but the terms are still distinct: those theorists using cultural industries tend to be more sober in their claims, and… while the traditions associated with the terms cultural industries and the creative industries superficially share a rejection of forms of cultural policy grounded on subsidy for the fine arts, the terms tend to denote very different modes of theoretical policy analysis

Commodification as a basis of critique of creative industries policy and theory Creative industries policy represents an attempt by states and businesses to extend and intensify the commodification of culture that has been under way for much of the last two centuries. Long-term context of policy shifts. Response to Long Downturn. Information Society, copyright

All societies draw lines between what can be bought and sold, and what cannot Negative aspects of commodification of culture: [Consumption side] Restrictions on freedom in extension of scope and duration of copyright Privatisation and individualisaton of culture But production too: Corporate forms as models for creativity Hidden work

Critiquing creative labour Bill Ryan, in his book Making Capital from Culture (1992) ‘artistic workers… cannot be made to appear in the labour process as generalised, undifferentiated artists’ (Ryan, 1992: 44). Must be engaged as ‘named, concrete labour’ For Ryan, this fuels the irrationality of the creative process. For capitalists, artists represent an investment that consistently threatens to undermine profitability Response is rationalisation, to produce a more controllable sequence of stars and styles

However, Weberian emphasis on rationalisation leads to limitations what if creative autonomy is itself a significant mechanism of power within certain forms of work – including much creative work in the cultural industries? Ross: the humane workplace as a business asset McRobbie: pleasure in creative work as a disciplinary device

in order to critique creative industries policy and theory, we need to recognise, as Ryan does, the specificity of artistic creative labour as opposed to other forms of work; we need to incorporate historical analysis, as Ryan does, but we also need to recognise, as Ross and McRobbie do, the complex pleasures of work and the dangers of self- exploitation associated with such pleasures ultimately, we need to critique the fate of artistic-cultural expression under contemporary neoliberalism, but in a way that recognises its complex and contradictory nature.

Uncover the distinctive forms of the above in each of the various industries that get labelled ‘creative’, eg television, magazine journalism, music: more empirical specificity needed Ultimately serve to critique artistic-cultural expression under contemporary neoliberalisms, but in a way that recognised its complex and contradictory nature

Problems associated with autonomy and Kantian notions of intrinsic value of art Need for pragmatist, ‘instrumentalist’ notion of social value of artistic expression: the enhancement and vitalisation of experience?

Assignment 2 The second assignment requires students to develop their own creative industry idea or innovation and follow the correct processes to prove the concept has validity in the market place. This should take the form of a properly developed proposal, considering factors such as potential market share, risk analysis, sales and marketing plan, etc.

Deadlines 1 st Sept for All Work from the last 2 modules Thanks and have a good summer.