David Hesmondalgh wrote a book called “The culture industries”

His work is about tracing the relationship between media work, workers, and the industry.

“VH:[00:17:10] I think a lot sadly does come down to luck and who you know. “

“MM: [00:34:02] So how do you see that? Looking back do you think that was, do you think basically you were lucky? The right person, in the right place, at the right time?

JL: [00:34:12] Yeah.  “

Many younger people believe that the creative industry is a lot different to how it really is

“LH [00:20:14] the minute that I went in I realized not everybody who works in creativity is a fun person. There are a lot more boring than you’d expect them to be. They’re not as fun.“

They are drawn to the ideas of fame and wealth and that it will be easy and fun, putting them in a vulnerable position when they realise that this is not the case and the industry requires you to get very lucky.

1. Cultural industries  – an industrialized culture, essentially produced for the sake of making profits
2. Production – The making of a piece of media
3. Distribution – How media products are delivered to audiences
4. Exhibition / Consumption – How a media product is viewed
5. Media concentration – The ownership of mass media by few individuals
6. Conglomerates – A company that owns numerous other companies involved in media
7. Globalisation (in terms of media ownership)
8. Cultural imperialism – A theory that states western nations dominate media around the world
9. Vertical Integration – When a media company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution e.g. 20th century fox owns studios; cinemas; TV channels
10. Horizontal Integration – A media company’s ownership of several businesses of the same value e.g. a magazine; radio station and TV channel
11. Mergers – When a media company acquires another company
12. Monopolies – A large company owning many shares of a media source
13. Gatekeepers – People who filter information for dissemination
14. Regulation – The process of disallowing certain things in the media through guidelines
15. Deregulation – Removing or loosening government restrictions on the ownership of media outlets
16. Free market – A market where the prices of services are self-regulated
17. Commodification  – The process whereby things are transformed into objects for sale in a capitalist economic system
18. Convergence  – blending together multiple forms of media
19. Diversity  – Differing ideas and forms of media 
20. Innovation  – The development of new media platforms, or new business models, or new ways of producing media etc.

David Hesmondhalgh states that the media industry is a “risky business” – However, there are many ways that companies minimise this risk.

For Example, many companies use vertical integration – where they acquire subsidiaries based in Production, Distribution AND Consumption. This allows them to control everything that happens with their product from how it is made, to how it is advertised and where it can be consumed.

Furthermore, many companies build up monopolies – which while illegal, have many workarounds that the companies use. For example, a company may only allow their films to be viewed in certain cinemas i.e. cineworld – except for one cinema in Thailand that allows for the company to deny the monopoly.