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Digital Culture: The Changing Dynamics competition law with a strong cultural bias. Cultural industries must be made substantially smaller, so that no enterprise could have a decisive influence on what we will see, hear and read. Therefore, we should investigate all corners of the cultural market and report which enterprises are present: what is their size, what are their horizontal and vertical links, what is their market share, and what is their market behaviour? When we have this precise knowledge we should establish norms as to what the limits are and how we can effectively cut enterprises that are too big and market-dominating into much smaller units. Obviously, we should not be afraid to do this. It is a neoliberal misunderstanding that markets flourish better the more unregulated they are. However, it might be disappointing to hear: never and nowhere in history have unregulated markets existed. And is the World Trade Organization not a big circus that regulates markets in such a way that huge enterprises, mostly coming from the Western world, dominate the globe? If the market is a level playing field – control through copyright and market dominating positions no longer exists – many artists and their producers could do very well, even in the digital era. Musicians will make most of their money from their concerts and it is likely that people who love their music will pay for the CD or for downloading their work. They will not be pushed outside the public attention any longer by the marketing efforts of the four major music conglomerates. Another example: a writer will make a contract with a publisher, as is the case now. The publisher then publishes the book. Of course, the next day another publisher could publish the book as well, but is it likely that this will happen? Of course not. The same day thirty or forty other publishers could do the same if copyright does not exist any more. But, because no enterprise has a dominating market position, it is not attractive to engage in this sort of investment. Let’s imagine that it nevertheless happens that one publisher would take the risk. In order to market the book, this publisher needs the support of the writer for publicity. In the case of a second publisher, it would be harmful for his/her reputation if the writer announces that he/she didn’t get any payment. Artists should not worry that they will not get a fair remuneration for their work and that it will be “stolen” from them. Two concepts come to mind when we consider their position in a world without copyright. First, it is not likely that this “stealing” will happen because no enterprise will have a dominating market position. The second concept is reputation. Whoever steals all the time will be shamed publicly. We are coming closer to a society where we do not go to court for everything. The price is simply too high to pay a substantial part of our earnings to lawyers. This means that practices of shaming and the destruction of reputations for bad commercial behaviour – informal law – will become more powerful. 94
Copyright and the digital age: a contradictio in terminis So, we can identify an essential change in behaviour: if there are no enforcement mechanisms, evidently other mechanisms – like reputation building and the shaming of reputations – will become more effective. Enterprises have an inherent need to keep markets workable. That is also in their obvious self-interest. This reality confirms our analysis that reputation and shaming will have a stronger position in the proposed new market relations. If there is no copyright, then other mechanisms to keep markets viable will replace the legally binding (but for most artistic enterprises ineffective) intellectual property rights. This might be true, and it will become true. However, with respect to the reality that cultural markets are heavily embedded in the global economy, we must recognize that in those contexts a defence mechanism like shaming might not be sufficient. This brings us back to the fundamental question as to whether many, many artists – and their producers and other intermediaries – can make a living from their efforts. Let’s analyse more precisely what is going to happen in a market without copyright where at the same time market-dominating positions no longer exist in the fields of production, distribution and promotion of cultural expressions, including all forms of entertainment. As always in history it will happen that some artists attract much more attention than many others. For reasons of the quality of their work or because they have the right gimmick at the right moment? Who knows? For our argument this is not of any interest. The consumption and reception of the arts is, and always has been, a social event that produces bandwagon effects. The rumour goes around that the work of a certain artist is the event of the day – why? – and the buzz snowballs. More relevant for our argument is whether such a “discovery” will become a best-selling artist as could happen nowadays. The answer is simply: no. Why not? Let’s remember, again, that we have decided to cut the big cultural industries into many pieces. Obviously, this has far-reaching consequences. One of them is that no cultural enterprise has the marketing clout and potentiality to turn a well-selling artist – the discovery of today – into a global star, a best-selling artist. This reality is hugely different from the current situation. In the new situation no enterprise has the size to spend such incredible amounts of money on marketing, and if there is one who would like to try, this enterprise will have to deal with considerable business risks. If matters really get out of hand, such behaviour and spending patterns will be condemned (and forbidden) as falsifying competition. In other words, the principle of winner-takes-all is losing ground and can no longer be effective in markets. This has the healthy effect that the exorbitant incomes of a few artists – a few best-selling stars – are downsized. Of course, a normal well-selling artist will still make a very good living, but will at the same time have significantly less income than presently is the case for the best-selling artists. This is a healthy development. 95
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CULTURELINK Network of Networks for
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Managing culture in virtual realms:
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Foreword Digital culture is a new c
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INTRODUCTION
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Digital Culture: The Changing Dynam
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PART ONE DIGITAL CULTURE - THE NEW
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global critical consciousness that
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References Culture Interactive Cult
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websites that fused into what we ma
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