damianThe Economics of The Urban Telegraph
July 5th 2006 00:33
Australia today is an urban, late-capitalist nation, two things those in charge of culture often forget. It’s a sad fact of life but today we rely on The Economy for nearly every part of our lives from our education to our livelihoods to, yes, even our culture. More than any other factor it is the economy and the economic process that effects our culture.
Culture, for want of a better definition is ‘How we do things’. We all eat, but it’s how we eat that is our culture. We all dress, but it’s how we dress that is our culture. We all think, but it’s how we think that is our culture. Our culture is all pervasive in our lives, effecting everything we do and in sharing our culture we identify with the people around us and can understand and relate to the way they see the world. However, how we do things is often influenced by the options available to us and those options more often than not are dictated by the economy.
Australia is a low populated, medium sized economy and this has a huge impact on our ability to produce culture. Beside the behemoth that is the American film industry the Australian film industry pales into insignificance and it is a picture that can be repeated with most, if not all, culture industries from music through to street culture and the ‘higher’ arts. We’re simply too small to compete on their terms.
Having said all this Australia still has the ability to produce good quality stuff that is worth watching/reading/listening to but this production is often hit and miss with the memorable and the downright ugly competing for our attention, the latter not helping things at all. More often than not though, it’s the economics of the culture industries that determine what we see and what we don’t (whether something will get funding and generate enough exposure to get noticed and be successful) and Australian culture often suffers because of the mess of distribution and promotional vehicles that are inefficient and get drowned out by foreign producers.
If Australia is ever to have a strong, consistent cultural commentary with itself it will be when this system is fixed and when those producing the culture find ways of making stuff that is relevant to contemporary Australians. When this is achieved the creative side of things should sort itself out as we’ve never had a lack of creative individuals, just an absence of a well defined creative tradition and the infrastructure to support it.
For these reasons The Urban Telegraph will concentrate on the economics of Australia’s culture industries, looking at what is consumed and by how many. This will result in the examination of many a Top Twenty chart to see how local product is going as well as the promotion of upcoming stuff that is on the horizon. It will also mean that I’ll probably rant and rave from time to time on the terrible things being done to the industry as well as look at the positive things that are helping promote culture production. There will also be the promotion of cultural artefacts of significance such as classic movies, music and art of various forms and, hopefully, the promotion of Australian culture as a whole, this site providing a place where Australian culture devotees can come and discuss their bizarre obsession (I cant be the only one, right?).
And just so you know what to expect, I’m going to post a blog I prepared earlier which is a report on last weeks Metro TV ratings. Hopefully this will give everyone a good idea of the sort of thing that will go on here.
Culture, for want of a better definition is ‘How we do things’. We all eat, but it’s how we eat that is our culture. We all dress, but it’s how we dress that is our culture. We all think, but it’s how we think that is our culture. Our culture is all pervasive in our lives, effecting everything we do and in sharing our culture we identify with the people around us and can understand and relate to the way they see the world. However, how we do things is often influenced by the options available to us and those options more often than not are dictated by the economy.
Having said all this Australia still has the ability to produce good quality stuff that is worth watching/reading/listening to but this production is often hit and miss with the memorable and the downright ugly competing for our attention, the latter not helping things at all. More often than not though, it’s the economics of the culture industries that determine what we see and what we don’t (whether something will get funding and generate enough exposure to get noticed and be successful) and Australian culture often suffers because of the mess of distribution and promotional vehicles that are inefficient and get drowned out by foreign producers.
For these reasons The Urban Telegraph will concentrate on the economics of Australia’s culture industries, looking at what is consumed and by how many. This will result in the examination of many a Top Twenty chart to see how local product is going as well as the promotion of upcoming stuff that is on the horizon. It will also mean that I’ll probably rant and rave from time to time on the terrible things being done to the industry as well as look at the positive things that are helping promote culture production. There will also be the promotion of cultural artefacts of significance such as classic movies, music and art of various forms and, hopefully, the promotion of Australian culture as a whole, this site providing a place where Australian culture devotees can come and discuss their bizarre obsession (I cant be the only one, right?).
And just so you know what to expect, I’m going to post a blog I prepared earlier which is a report on last weeks Metro TV ratings. Hopefully this will give everyone a good idea of the sort of thing that will go on here.
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