Cultural Policy and Development:What are Creative Industries and Why Do We Care?

This chapter suggests a framework to structure debates on cultural policy, drawing on the discipline of cultural economics. The aim is to inform cultural policymaking, in particular in middle-income countries such as India, which experience relatively rapid socio-economic change. This chapter challenges some common preconceived ideas regarding cultural and creative industries (CCI) and cultural policy, which inhibit constructive engagement with culture. For instance, I argue that we should not get stuck in definitional issues. Second, sophisticated cultural policy is desirable not just because CCI are large, but because of the dual challenge of extensive market failure in CCI and the great potential for problems with government failure in cultural policy. Third, CCI and the luxuries they supply are not negligible in developing countries that experience rapid, general economic growth but also need to cater for a large share of their population with limited access to more essential goods and services, regarding, for instance, health, nutrition, and shelter. To the contrary, in the course of socio-economic development, CCI have an increasing role to play. Fourth, the labour intensity of CCI should not be misinterpreted as a reason for its relative decline in the course of technological change. Fifth, in the case of India, following the example of CCI-related practices and policies in highly developed economies may be misleading. Different intellectual property institutions may be required, and the celebration of individual superstar creators exhibited in many countries may inhibit wide CCI participation in India. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research on three overarching topics. When does art follow wealth and at what levels of general socio-economic development does it start working the other way around? How can CCI promote upward social mobility? How can policymakers ensure that digitalization promotes the performance of CCI regarding productivity, efficiency, and equity under swiftly changing socio-economic circumstances

The economics of copyright law: a stocktake of the literature

This article is a survey of publications by economists writing on copyright law. It begins with a general overview of how economists analyse these questions; the distinction is made between the economics of copying and the economic aspects of copyright law as analysed in law and economics. It then continues with sections on research on the effects of copying and downloading and the effects of unauthorised use (‘piracy’) and ends with an overall evaluation of the economics of copyright in the light of recent technological changes. Economists have always been, and still are, somewhat sceptical about copyright and question what alternatives there are to it. On balance, most accept the role of copyright law in the creative industries while urging caution about its becoming too strong. And although European authors’ rights are different in legal terms from the Anglo-American copyright, the economic analysis of these laws is essentially the same

Cultural Policy and Development:What are Creative Industries and Why Do We Care?

This chapter suggests a framework to structure debates on cultural policy, drawing on the discipline of cultural economics. The aim is to inform cultural policymaking, in particular in middle-income countries such as India, which experience relatively rapid socio-economic change. This chapter challenges some common preconceived ideas regarding cultural and creative industries (CCI) and cultural policy, which inhibit constructive engagement with culture. For instance, I argue that we should not get stuck in definitional issues. Second, sophisticated cultural policy is desirable not just because CCI are large, but because of the dual challenge of extensive market failure in CCI and the great potential for problems with government failure in cultural policy. Third, CCI and the luxuries they supply are not negligible in developing countries that experience rapid, general economic growth but also need to cater for a large share of their population with limited access to more essential goods and services, regarding, for instance, health, nutrition, and shelter. To the contrary, in the course of socio-economic development, CCI have an increasing role to play. Fourth, the labour intensity of CCI should not be misinterpreted as a reason for its relative decline in the course of technological change. Fifth, in the case of India, following the example of CCI-related practices and policies in highly developed economies may be misleading. Different intellectual property institutions may be required, and the celebration of individual superstar creators exhibited in many countries may inhibit wide CCI participation in India. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research on three overarching topics. When does art follow wealth and at what levels of general socio-economic development does it start working the other way around? How can CCI promote upward social mobility? How can policymakers ensure that digitalization promotes the performance of CCI regarding productivity, efficiency, and equity under swiftly changing socio-economic circumstances

Copyright's impact on data mining in academic research

With the proliferation of digital data, data mining (DM)¿in the sense of the discoveryof valuable structures in large sets of data¿is expected to increase the productivityof many types of research. This paper discusses how copyright affects DM by aca-demic researchers. In some territories, academic DM is lawful if researchers havelawful access to input works. In other territories such as the European Union, lawfulDM additionally requires specific consent by rights holders. Based on bibliometricdata and quasi-experimental research designs, we show that where academic DMrequires specific rights holder consent: (1) DM publications make up a significantlylower share of total research output, and (2) stronger rule of law is associated withless DM research. To our knowledge, this study is the first to empirically documentan adverse effect of intellectual property (IP) on innovation under particular circum-stances. There is strong evidence that copyright exceptions or limitations promotethe adoption of DM research

Knocking on heaven's door: user preferences on digital cultural distribution

This paper explores the social, demographic and attitudinal basis of consumer support of a Copyright Compensation System (CCS), which, for a small monthly fee would legalise currently infringing online social practices such as private copying from illegal sources and online sharing of copyrighted works. We do this by first identifying how different online and offline, legal and illegal, free and paying content acquisition channels are used in the media market using a cluster-based classification of respondents. Second, we assess the effect of cultural consumption on the support for a shift from the status quo towards alternative, CCS-based forms of digital cultural content distribution. Finally, we link these two analyses to identify the factors that drive the dynamics of change in digital cultural consumption habits. Our study shows significant support to a CCS compared to the status quo by both occasional and frequent buyers of cultural goods, despite the widespread adoption of legal free and paying online services by consumers. The nature of these preferences are also explored with the inclusion of consumer preference intensities regarding certain CCS attributes. Our results have relevant policy implications, for they outline CCS as a reform option. In particular, they point evidence-based copyright reform away from its current direction in the EU of stronger enforcement measures, additional exclusive rights, and increased liability and duties of care for online platforms. This work shows that CCS may be an apt policy tool to hinder piracy and potentially increase right holder revenues, while respecting fundamental rights and promoting technological development

Submission to Canadian Government Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for AI and the Internet of Things

We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Canadian Government’s consultation on a modern copyright framework for AI and the Internet of Things. Below, we present some of our research findings relating to the importance of flexibility in copyright law to permit text and data mining (“TDM”). As the consultation paper recognizes, TDM is a critical element of artificial intelligence. Our research supports the adoption of a specific exception for uses of works in TDM to supplement Canada’s existing general fair dealing exception. Empirical research shows that more publication of citable research takes place in countries with “open” research exceptions -- that is, research exceptions that are open to all uses (e.g. reproduction and communication), to all works, and to all users. Empirical research also shows that text and data mining research is promoted through exceptions that more specifically authorize text and data mining research. While these studies are preliminary and we are still improving on them, they provide evidence that supports the approach of combining a general research exception with a more specific data mining exception

Knocking on Heaven’s door: User preferences on digital cultural distribution

This paper explores the social, demographic and attitudinal basis of consumer support of a Copyright Compensation System (CCS), which, for a small monthly fee would legalise currently infringing online social practices such as private copying from illegal sources and online sharing of copyrighted works. We do this by first identifying how different online and offline, legal and illegal, free and paying content acquisition channels are used in the media market using a cluster-based classification of respondents. Second, we assess the effect of cultural consumption on the support for a shift from the status quo towards alternative, CCS-based forms of digital cultural content distribution. Finally, we link these two analyses to identify the factors that drive the dynamics of change in digital cultural consumption habits. Our study shows significant support to a CCS compared to the status quo by both occasional and frequent buyers of cultural goods, despite the widespread adoption of legal free and paying online services by consumers. The nature of these preferences are also explored with the inclusion of consumer preference intensities regarding certain CCS attributes. Our results have relevant policy implications, for they outline CCS as a reform option. In particular, they point evidence-based copyright reform away from its current direction in the EU of stronger enforcement measures, additional exclusive rights, and increased liability and duties o

Going means trouble and staying makes it double: the value of licensing recorded music online

This paper discusses whether a copyright compensation system (CCS) for recorded music—endowing private Internet subscribers with the right to download and use works in return for a fee—would be welfare increasing. It reports on the results of a discrete choice experiment conducted with a representative sample of the Dutch population consisting of 4986 participants. Under some conservative assumptions, we find that applied only to recorded music, a mandatory CCS could increase the welfare of rights holders and users in the Netherlands by over €600 million per year (over €35 per capita). This far exceeds current rights holder revenues from the market of recorded music of ca. €144 million per year. A monthly CCS fee of ca. €1.74 as a surcharge on Dutch Internet subscriptions would raise the same amount of revenues to rights holders as the current market for recorded music. With a voluntary CCS, the estimated welfare gains to users and rights holders are even greater for CCS fees below €20 on the user side. A voluntary CCS would also perform better in the long run, as it could retain a greater extent of market coordination. The results of our choice experiment indicate that a well-designed CCS for recorded music would simultaneously make users and rights holders better off. This result holds even if we correct for frequently observed rates of overestimation in contingent valuation studies