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2 - Basic elements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2015

Harold L. Vogel
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Summary

Listen to the technology and find out what it is telling you.

– Carver Mead, chip design pioneer

All entertainment and media industries operate within a framework of commonly shared elements. All sectors are conditioned by the same underlying rules, are affected by changes in distribution technologies at approximately the same time, and, because of the nature of the products and services offered, are often both buyers and sellers of advertising services. The relevance of these basic and usually invisible aspects common to every entertainment and media business sector is explained in this chapter.

Psychological roots

What does entertainment do for us? What has driven our need for it even in ancient civilizations where musicians, dancers, and acrobats performed (China and Egypt) and chariot races were staged (Rome)? These basic questions are at the heart of the economics of entertainment because the answers have an important bearing on the quantities and qualities of demand and supply for all types of entertainment and media products and services. Those who study the psychology of entertainment are now just beginning to provide answers to these questions. In what is known as the objectivist approach, for instance, it is suggested that at the most elemental level entertainment and media provide people with at least three psychological benefits (or payoffs, in the lingo of economics).

  1. A sense of competence, that an emotional and intellectual challenge has been successfully met. That is, you got the joke, followed the plotline, understood the lyrics, carried the tune, scored high on the video game, and so on.

  2. A feeling of autonomy – Hey, you did this on your own too (you think, even though your selections were probably highly influenced by others).

  3. A sense of relatedness, in that you identified with the characters or story in a novel, and with the movie star, author, TV personality, singer, or composer even though he or she does not know who you are.

Type
Chapter
Information
Entertainment Industry Economics
A Guide for Financial Analysis
 , pp. 47 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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  • Basic elements
  • Harold L. Vogel
  • Book: Entertainment Industry Economics
  • Online publication: 05 January 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139871679.004
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  • Basic elements
  • Harold L. Vogel
  • Book: Entertainment Industry Economics
  • Online publication: 05 January 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139871679.004
Available formats
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  • Basic elements
  • Harold L. Vogel
  • Book: Entertainment Industry Economics
  • Online publication: 05 January 2015
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139871679.004
Available formats
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