Digital renaissance : what data and economics tell us about the future of popular culture / Joel Waldfogel.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The creative industries : risky, expensive, and worth preserving -- Part I: A tour of some major cultural industries : music, movies, television shows, books, and photography. Digitization in music : rock on? ; Digitization in movies : Hollywood ending? ; Digitization in television : has the vast wasteland blossomed? ; Digitization in books : fifty shades of dreck? ; Digitization further afield : photography, travel agents, and beyond ; The value of the digital renaissance : the long tail and a whole lot more -- Part II: Coming attractions : farm teams, bundling, pirates, vikings, and trolls. The digital farm system, and the promise of bundling ; A tale of two intellectual property regimes : lessons from Hollywood and Bollywood ; Digitization, the French, and the return of the Vikings ; Bridge trolls : the possible threat of technological gatekeepers ; Crisis or renaissance?

"The digital revolution poses a mortal threat to the major creative industries--music, publishing, television, and the movies. The ease with which digital files can be copied and distributed has unleashed a wave of piracy with disastrous effects on revenue. Cheap, easy self-publishing is eroding the position of these gatekeepers and guardians of culture. Does this revolution herald the collapse of culture, as some commentators claim? Far from it. In [this book], Joel Waldfogel argues that digital technology is enabling a new golden age of popular culture, a veritable digital renaissance. By reducing the costs of production, distribution, and promotion, digital technology is democratizing access to the cultural marketplace. More books, songs, television shows, and movies are being produced than ever before. Nor does this mean a tidal wave of derivative, poorly produced kitsch; analyzing decades of production and sales data, as well as bestseller and best-of lists, Waldfogel finds that the new digital model is just as successful at producing high-quality, successful work as the old industry model, and in many cases more so. The vaunted gatekeeper role of the creative industries proves to have been largely mythical. The high costs of production have stifled creativity in industries that require ever-bigger blockbusters to cover the losses on ever-more-expensive failures. Are we drowning in a tide of cultural silt, or living in a golden age for culture? The answers in Digital Renaissance may surprise you."--Dust jacket.

Text in English.