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European Journal of Communication
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Art for Art's Sake or Selling Up?

Simon Faulkner

Manchester Business School (MBS), Innovation Management and Policy Division, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, M15 6PB, UK

Adam Leaver

Manchester Metropolitan University, adam.leaver{at}mbs.ac.uk

Farida Vis

Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC), Open University, Milton Keynes

Karel Williams

Manchester Business School (MBS), University of Manchester

This article explores the discrepancy between the vision of the broadcast producer as a creative in pursuit of `art for art's sake' and current trends within the broadcasting sector, where large `super-indies' dominate and smaller producer-owners become rich by selling up. At a theoretical level, the article explores how representations of the producer as artist frame the historic and current policy debates, so that `liberating the creative' has become the key policy object. At an empirical level the article shows how, in response to regulatory changes, a slow-growing market and the influence of external financial backers, the sector has become dominated by acquisitive super-indies, who buy small and medium-sized firms from willing sellers who treat their firm as a real option to be cashed in the future, because selling up can make them a millionaire.

Key Words: cultural entrepreneurs • selling up • super-indies • wealth • independent television production

European Journal of Communication, Vol. 23, No. 3, 295-317 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0267323108092537
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?