Sociology

Cultural Industries and cultural products are both relatively new concepts of the 21st Century. Cultural industries seem to have flourished in industries such as music, entertainment, and art it is fundamentally the commercialization of these industries that that has led to the commercial development and the birth of Cultural Industries. These industries have produced unlimited cultural products that have not only attracted great global demand but has also led to the development of a global cultural industry facilitated by the globalization phenomenon.

Everywhere we see the integration of culture uniformity in areas of print, radio, and entertainment such as films is highly visible, political systems are now run on a similar pattern, and architecture worldwide has become some what the same in terms of design of buildings and other industrial centers (Adorno  Horkheimer, 1993). Millions of people participate in this process of the production of such similar products that seem to be derived out of pure consumer needs and wants hence the reason of the wide demand and acceptability of these products (Adorno  Horkheimer, 1993). Consumer needs and wants are taken into consideration which influences the demand patterns as well as product designs. This strategy adopted by cultural industries has what made possible the production of cultural products. Whether we call them consumer driven products or products influenced by consumer insights, a certain power is no doubt controlling and owning cultural industries.  This clearly results in a strong control and ownership of cultural industries which eventually affects cultural products. How does the ownership and control of these cultural industries affect cultural products is what this paper aims to address.

Cultural Industries
Cultural industries include disciplines such as cultural geography, sociology, media studies, arts management etc. (Hesmondhalgh  Pratt, 2005). Cultural industries are also known as Creative Industries they are industries that are involved in mass production of goods that are largely influenced by art and culture (Towse 2001). This artistic content may include any form of art, entertainment and culture i.e. music, dance, craftsmanship etc. (Towse 2001). Cultural industries have been studied by both economic sociologists as well as cultural anthropologists. One important aspect of cultural industries is that it is mass produced. Mass production has been primarily possible due to technology and the rapid advancements in technology be it sound, movies, printing, video  growth in cultural industries have been greatly possible (Towse 2001). The concept of cultural industry came up when original artists were not able to, rather did not reproduce their work and hence their output was repeated by other means which eventually gave rise to the commercialization of it and hence cultural products were formed. 

The cultural aspects of cultural industries has attracted less attention of the economists however the characteristics of these industries that has led to the homogenization and mass production of products in these industries has what attracted economists the most (Towse 2001). Cowen in his book In Praise of Commercial Culture talks about cultural disaster that has primarily been a result of capitalism (1998) however Towse argues that it has actually led to more diversification of culture and to the spread of cultures across the world as demand for products lead to differentiation of products which further encourage market developments and market penetration (2001). This eventually gives rise to niche markets with respect to the development of cultural products. The core products that cultural and creative industries include are heritage goods, printed media such as books, newspapers and periodicals, and other printed matter, recorded media, visual arts, and audiovisual media (UNESCO 2005). 

Cultural Products
Cultural products are defined as products that use cultural materials while going through the process of industrial activities it is fundamentally the right mix of technology and ideas that provide consumers with a value added product i.e. a cultural product (Lee  Lee 2009). Such products are diverse, different, and have high added value. These products like all other products satisfy consumer needs but along with that they also satisfy the cultural needs of consumers.

More simply, any product that contains a cultural content qualifies to be a cultural product (Liyu 2009). This definition of cultural products includes almost anything and everything that is produced in todays world due to the phenomenon of globalization. The world has become so small that it has shrunken into a size of a small village where communication and transfer of knowledge has become a matter of seconds. This shrinkage has led to huge cultural diversities as today any book we read or any movie that we watch or any song that we hear is a mix of different cultures whether it is in terms of the content or in terms of production personnel.

Cultural products are gaining immense popularity as we see numerous cases globally that illustrate how products of one country or culture are being accepted and gaining popularity in another country or culture just by incorporating a few minor changes in these cultural products. The case of the Japanese comics, Manga, gained a lot of popularity in the U.S. and created a market of its own even though only minor changes such as format and layout were made in the comics distributed in the U.S. (Matsui 2009). Such cases of cultural products and its diffusion into foreign markets are gaining immense attractiveness because of which cultural industries are growing at a considerably high rate.

Moreover cultural products are not just mere entertainment goods or simple stories that are being sold theyre actually products with proper content and meaningful ideas (Ondrasik n.d.). This content is what makes the product a Cultural Product. A study was conducted in Taiwan which studied how culture can be incorporated into modern products and actually be transformed into cultural products (Lin et al. 2007). This is a design philosophy which is said to become a global market trend and rightly so. Lin et al. in this case give a model for designing a cultural product and explain how important yet challenging it has become for global markets to convert their modern products and technologies into cultural products. The need for cultural products has risen and it is only wise to think globally but act locally (Lin et al. 2007) as marketers in order to be commercially successful need to cater to local demands which primarily stem out of culture. Even Italian cuisine such as pizza and pasta need to be transformed into a cultural product by adding the local flavor such as jalapenos for the Mexican the Italian pizza then becomes a cultural product.

Ownership and Control of Cultural IndustriesPrivate cultural industries are largely controlled and influenced. This industry faces many barriers to entry as some groups do not have the freedom to enter this industry these groups include minorities and women (Towse 2001). Councils such as official art academies control the production of artistic material and products to a great extent. However the commercial aspect of these cultural industries poses no barrier when it comes to cultural product production. Economic growth is positively correlated with productivity therefore the commercial industries have no barriers to entry and producers are given complete freedom to innovate and explore the artistic side of their culture and produce whatever they want to on a commercial basis.

The control and ownership of the cultural industries in terms of the production of cultural products come from the consumers. They are the gate keepers of the cultural industries. If this aspect is not taken in consideration by the commercial players of the cultural industries, competition will spring up in no time.

Affect of Cultural Industries Control  Ownership over Cultural Products   Consumer Analysis
Control of cultural industries by the players operating in the industry can affect cultural products greatly. One way in which they can is by the way they interpret consumer insights or by the way they forecast consumer patterns (Towse 2001). If producers feel a certain kind of music or a certain trend in architectural designing will prevail then they will produce on similar lines and will be able to capture markets very easily. For producers of cultural industries it depends on how well they are able to interpret trends and forecast them and then take advantage of it by marketing those trends in a way that consumers are forced to adopt those trends and purchase those cultural goods. Whether it is clothing fashion, books, music cultural industry players can easily control the industry and produce products according to their will.

Moreover consumer insights is not just restricted to the kind of goods they want it goes as far as the language in which they want it and the taste which they prefer. Movies and songs are now produced in hundreds of different languages. It is what the cultural producers are now developing because markets are expanding at an exponential rate. Globalization has led to the shrinking of international boundaries which has further increased diversification in terms of culture hence the need for products that taste in a particular way. Cultural products have therefore gone into the minutest of details because of consumer demands. This is one way in which the control and ownership of cultural industries by the consumers affect cultural products.

Creative vs. Commercial
The dilemma here is in the difference in the control and ownership of cultural industries by the content creators i.e. the artists and that of the commercial producers (Towse 2001). Interestingly the two cannot operate without the other. The content is produced by the original creators that apply their innovative skills however the distribution and the delivery of these products is in the hands of other players such as retailers and distributors. For this activity to take place it is important for contracts to be made so that the products reach the consumer as promised. Therefore the control and ownership of cultural industries is influenced both by creators and deliverers. 

Creative Commercial Partnership
This amalgamation of both creators and deliverers and the control they have on the cultural industry has affected cultural products in terms of the structure in which they are distributed and hence in terms of product design. Today movies are not just based on creative content but are also affected by production partnerships and distributors. Technology and globalization has made the release of movies on an international level which has attracted many international partnerships between producers and distributors. Distributors have shares and stakes in the production of movies because of which the content is highly influenced by the commercial players. Hence one way in which the ownership of cultural industries affects cultural products is due to the partnerships that have started forming between the creative players and the commercial players.

Government Policy
Another control over cultural industries is seen in the form of government regulation and policy (Towse 2001). These regulations spread over a variety of dimensions such as partnership rules and laws, media regulatory bodies, media ministries and polices, trade policies, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), copyrights and infringement policies, reproduction of cultural content, etc. They also include areas such as respect for women and children, minority rights, respect for other religions and languages etc. The government sets and regulates all these bodies and explicitly lays down rules and regulations that need to be followed by the cultural industry players. These bodies regulate the content being broadcasted and aired, content that is uploaded on the internet, movies and books are previewed and rated all these activities affect the cultural content of products. Government regulations are therefore primarily there to control the cultural industry to protect the cultural products from piracy and other similar frauds and external threats that may negatively affect them if these regulations had not been there. Piracy has disastrous effects on industries, especially cultural industries. In order to save culture and protect the intellectual property rights it is important to control and have some sort of ownership on the cultural industries. This automatically affects cultural products in terms of the ways through which modern products are converted into cultural products.

This aspect greatly affects the production of cultural products as what products and how they need to be produced need to take account of these rules and laws. Products that are already registered and copyrighted cannot be reproduced hence those players who are trying to produce something on similar lines should be aware of outcomes in case of violation. This may be true for books, movies, paintings etc. and can go in as detail as lyrics, script, and music compositions etc. Due to globalization and technological advancements information can cross borders within seconds nothing is hidden from anyone and hence government regulations can easily affect the cultural product content. 

Quality may also affect the production of cultural products as governments have bodies that have strict quality standards that need to be met by creative content producers or else their creative products are not allowed to be produced and distributed in the markets. The reason for this is two pronged firstly globalization has made the integration of the world economies possible which demands quality of a particular standard, and secondly consumers have become extremely aware and market savvy and hence do not accept anything that is sub standard. Therefore for a creative good to be commercially viable and successful quality needs to be addressed by the cultural content producers or else their products will fail.

Government regulation bodies have been facing increased pressure to deregulate the media and other industries and to relax the restrictions that have been put on cross-media ownership. They want the media to be free and liberalized so that they can be free to deliver whatever they want. However a study conducted in the U.K. suggest that although the cultural industry players might get benefitted economically if these regulations are relaxed, not many benefits are linked to the deregulation of cross-ownership of the creative industry and cultural products (Doyle 2000).

Conclusion
This paper highlighted a number of factors that control and influence the cultural industry which in turn affects cultural products. Cultural industries as the name suggest incorporates culture which in itself is a highly complicated phenomenon. It is not complex to understand it but the hundreds of things that make up culture affect the way cultural products are developed and designed. Furthermore the control and ownership of cultural industries is not in a few hands however it is in the hands of different internal and external factors which ultimately affects cultural products. The external factors include technology, economic social changes etc whereas internal factors include the people that make up the culture. All these factors affect cultural products in different ways and were all discussed in detail in the paper. However I feel the one major effect of all these factors combined which further affects cultural products is the formulation of cultural policies. Cultural policies are developed only because of the control and ownership of the cultural products.

Moreover the way cultural industry and all the other factors affect cultural products clearly illustrate the importance of cultural markets in the years to come. This is a new market which will be the latest global trend that every single marketer and producer will have to take account of. In order to gain full advantage of cultural markets it is essential for producers to develop cultural products and industries after taking a 360 degrees approach towards the factors influencing these industries and what factors control and drive the market. The cultural supply and its processes need to be studied as that also affects cultural products and is one of the ways by which industries can be controlled. Only then will the production and the commercialization of cultural products be profitable and successful.

A major concept hat should be taken account of is that culture is not to be created cultures exist and they need to be studied and analyzed. Culture has many different aspects to it that include language, architecture, costumes, artifacts, traditions and rituals and others all these aspects are ways through which marketers can reach new markets and develop new niches and expand globally. These ways are the ones that actually control and own cultural industries and only these ways need to be incorporated in the cultural products. Government regulations and other related factors are all valid and do own and control cultural industries but the key to success is to pick the relevant cultural values and add them to the products. This is the gist of cultural industries affecting cultural products and therefore to gain success and profitability, the incorporation of relevant cultural values is what all marketers should do. 

I believe we should all as consumers and producers of cultural products should work towards the protection of cultural industries by contributing in ways that will save the violation of cultures. Organizations such as UNESCO are contributing a lot in trying to save the cultures of the world and eventually protecting cultural products. Today cultural industries have transformed into creative industries and cultural products have transformed into creative products. Hence rather than controlling we should all own the worlds creativity and protect it in order to produce more satisfying cultural products.