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Introducing the Creative Industries
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Introducing the Creative Industries
From Theory to Practice

First Edition


May 2013 | 280 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

"This text does a sterling job at identifying, outlining and defining the many elements that go to make up this booming sector of industry. What makes it particularly interesting is that it includes the view of the creative industries from the perspective of working in it, then the definitions of what products and producers are involved, and ends with the broader picture of the creative economy and predictions for future trends. Add to this that they include both theory and practice, and this really is an all-round guide to the vast domain that is loosely titled 'the creative industries'"
- Angela Birchall, School of Media, Music & Performance, Salford University

This is your complete guide to studying and succeeding in the creative industries. This book takes you through the history, trends, products and markets of the creative industries, showing how success depends on a mix of ideas, tactics and talent.

When understanding social networks and cultural economy is just as important as hands-on skills or an entrepreneurial spirit, Introducing the Creative Industries shows you how to use theories, concepts and practical skills to get ahead in their course and professional life. Creatively imagined and beautifully written, this book:

  • Interweaves theoretical concepts and professional practice on every page
  • Uses cultural economy to teach the essential concepts and thinkers
  • Integrates case studies from fashion and gaming to journalism and music
  • Teaches strategies for navigating the links between skills, industries, creativity and markets.

This book shows you how to spot opportunities and use your knowledge and savvy to take kickstart your career in this fast-moving industry. It is an essential guidebook for students of creativity in media and communication, design, creative industries and business.


Introduction: How to Use This Book

 
 
Chapter 1: What are the Creative Industries?
Defining the Creative Industries

 
Studying the Creative Industries - Three Approaches

 
 
Chapter 2: Creativity and Commerce
Patronage: Wealth, Power and Religion in Italian Renaissance Painting

 
The Marketplace: English Theatre in the Time of Shakespeare

 
Reproduction and Mass-production: The Print Revolution

 
Industrial Production

 
Industrialised Media Production: The Studio system

 
 
PART ONE: WORKING IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
 
Chapter 3: Institutions, Ownership and Entrepreneurship
The Organisation of Production

 
Workplaces

 
Work Structures

 
Work Patterns

 
Finding Work

 
National and International Perspectives

 
 
Chapter 4: The Business of Creativity
Sole Traders and Micro Businesses

 
Financing a Creative Business

 
Contracts and Rights

 
Business Models

 
PEST: Political, Economic, Social and Technological Factors

 
Clustering and the Sense of Creative Community

 
 
Chapter 5: Work Routines and Work Cultures
Employees: Staffers, In-house Workers

 
Freelancers and Portfolio Workers

 
Networking

 
Equality of Opportunity?

 
 
PART TWO: PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF PRODUCTS
 
Chapter 6: Creative Producers and Products
Creative Goods and Services: Tangible and Intangible

 
Creative Originals Producers

 
Creative Content Producers

 
Creative Experience Providers

 
Creative Service Providers

 
From Simple Creative Goods to Complex Creative Goods

 
 
Chapter 7: Research, Development and Production
Research and Development

 
Production

 
 
Chapter 8: Circulation: Marketing and Distribution of Creative Products
Circulation

 
The Mass Market Model

 
Channels of Distribution and Marketing

 
What is Marketing?

 
Selling Stuff: Retail and its Disruptions

 
 
PART THREE: THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
 
Chapter 9: Institutional Commissioning and Financing Structures
Business Models in the Television Sector

 
Commissioning in Television

 
How Do Writers and Producers Get TV Commissions?

 
Finding a Route In

 
Commissioning and the Business of Magazine Publishing

 
 
Chapter 10: Clients, Funders and Going it Alone
Working to Brief: The Client Relationship.

 
Public Funding

 
Entrepreneurial Approaches

 
Self-funding

 
Crowdfunding

 
 
Chapter 11: The Changing Economic Landscape
Creativity and Commerce: Novelty, Risk and Change

 
Changing Work Routines and Work Cultures

 
Changing Structures and Models

 
Jobs That Don't Exist Yet

 
Glossary

 

With the rapid growth in opportunities to work in the creative industries, there is a need for books that clearly outline the key issues. With a book rich with case studies and definitional materials, Davies and Sigthorsson have admirably met this challenge.
Professor Terry Flew
Queensland University of Technology


Full, fresh and fun, but also hard work - absorbing, detailed and ambitious. That's the creative industries, and also this book. It suits what it studies, showing how human creativity, meaningfulness and experience are organised at industrial scale. Aimed squarely at those who will be the workforce and wealth-creators of the future, this is the go-to guide for understanding a complex and varied market.
John Hartley
Curtin University, Australia, and Cardiff University, Wales


Very interesting and relevant

Miss Olalonpe Ige
Birmingham Business School, Birmingham University
February 25, 2020

The book has proved to be applicable at all levels, with students engaging with it from first to third year - particularly useful in portfolio modules.

Ms Sarah Cooper
Faculty of Creative Technologies, Leeds Metropolitan University
June 18, 2015

This is a great contextual account of the creative industries.

Anna Kiernan
Faculty of Media, University College Falmouth
April 3, 2014

A very informative and well-balanced presentation that balances off the world of theory and concepts with the world of practice. This is of great benefit to students seeking to build their understanding of the world of the creative industries and future careers within it.

Mr Philip Potter
Humanities , University of Chester
January 6, 2014

The book is highly informative for students on IOT2002 Innovation and Communication.

Its a gives a balance perspective from a practical angle.

Dr Margaret Mangion
Edward de Bono Institute, University of Malta
October 22, 2013

Excellent introductory volume that provides an advanced and detailed overview of the field

Mr Dyfrig Jones
School of Creative Studies and Media, Bangor University
July 12, 2013

Creativity used to be the difficult concept to define - now it has probably been overtaken by the concept 'creative industries'. However, this text does a sterling job at identifying, outlining and defining the many elements that go to make up this booming sector of industry. What makes it particularly interesting is that it includes the view of the creative industries from the perspective of working in it, then the definitions of what products and producers are involved, and ends with the broader picture of the creative economy and predictions for future trends. Add to this that they include both theory and practice, and this really is an all-round guide to the vast domain that is loosely titled 'the creative industries'

Miss Angela Birchall
School of Media, Music & Performance, Salford University
June 19, 2013

Very good overview of the creative industries with excellent presentation of ideas about the structure and characteristics of the industry.

Mrs Sian Rees
College of Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
June 17, 2013

An easy-to-read and comprehensive book that discusses what it is like to work in the "Creative Industries" and what the fruit of your labour acctually is about. I will use it as a starting point for group discussions about internship on different firms, that my students undergo.

Mr Matts Skagshöj
Department of Health & Society, Halmstad University
April 29, 2013

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