The New Rules Of The Creative Economy

[beechnut79]

(09-01-2016, 12:19 PM)Dan Wrote: http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/201...ve-economy

Quote:Nearly 200 A-list musicians have signed an open letter to Congress calling for better protections against copyright infringement and higher royalty rates from streaming sites. Current licensing laws, they say, are out of sync with the digital age and threaten the ability of artists and songwriters to make a living. It’s an oft-repeated critique that will sound familiar to anyone in a creative field: that the Internet and media consumption habits have strained the economics of producing art to the point that musicians, writers and filmmakers will be forced out of business. Yet the reality is more complicated. While it’s true that many of these professions increasingly favor the few, there’s little reason to worry about the creative class disappearing altogether.

The state of the creative economy is the subject of frequent—and often conflicting—headlines. Critics warn of rampant piracy and collapsing prices while declaring everything from music sales to print to photography dead. In 2015, the book Culture Crash insisted that technological and economic forces are making it impossible for the middle class to pursue creative careers—the same year a New York Times Magazine cover story­ argued that most professional creators are actually faring as well as they did 15 years ago....



http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/201...e-economy/

One of the nuisances here is paywalls which have been formed to force one to take out a paid subscription in order to read anything. Forbes is one of these. In theory it is no different than paying for a print edition, but it could be a nuisance nonetheless. I happened to read the landmark book by Richard Florida, "The Rise of the Creative Class". Been too long ago now to recall that much about it. The biggest downfall of the advent of online subscriptions is that it has increased our dependence on credit cards. When that house of cards falls, pun intended here, we would no doubt be in for such a big crash as to make the Great Depression seem like a carnival. Surprised that it hasn't yet happened.