An engaging and accessible introduction to the field, Understanding Media Industries helps students develop deeper and more critical knowledge of industries. This book provides students with a thorough discussion of how media industries work, why they work as they do, and the broader theoretical and practical implications of media industry structure and function. The authors' unique Industrialization of Culture Framework organizes the book and helps students to consider media industries in different nations and historical periods.

Contents CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING MEDIA INDUSTRIES o Understanding Media Industries § Why Study Media Industries -Defining Media Industries § Media Industries in Society -All Media Matter in the Public Sphere o Agency and Ideology in Media Industries § Forces that Circumscribe Agency -Organizational Cultures -The Ideological Uncertainty of Media Content -Cultures of Production o Understanding Media Industries in the 21st Century § Mass Customization and the Rise of Information Economy -Mass Production -Long Downturn -Mass Customization o Questions CHAPTER TWO: THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF CULTURE FRAMEWORK AND KEY ECONOMIC CONCEPTS o The Industrialization of Culture Framework § Mandates § Conditions § Practices o How Does this Framework Work? o Key Economic Aspects of the Media Industries § Fundamentals of Media Commodities § Media Industry Response to Risk -Ownership and Conglomeration Strategies -Formatting o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER THREE: MEDIA INDUSTRY MANDATES o What Are Common Mandates § Commercial Media § Noncommercial Media -Public Mandate Media -Community, Alternative/DIY Mandate Media -Governmental Mandate Media o Mandates in Action § Establishing the Mandate of U.S. Broadcasting o Limits of Mandates o Questions CHAPTER FOUR: REGULATION OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRIES o Why is Broadcasting Different? o Who Regulates? -International Regulations -Self-Regulation o What is Regulated? § Content Regulations -Copyright § Structural and Operational Regulations -Ownership Regulations -Economic Regulations: Rate Control and Subsidies -Licenses and License Renewal -Monopoly and Anti-Trust Restrictions o Other Regulatory Conditions § Regulations Governing Distribution § An Emerging Area: Broadband Policy § Pro-Social Regulation § Technological Standards: The Case of the Digital Television Transition o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER FIVE: ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN MEDIA PRODUCTION o The Creative and Cultural Implications of Cost Structures and Financing Mechanisms § The Costs of Making Media -Development Costs -Production Costs -Marketing and Distribution Costs -Overhead Costs § How Are the Costs of Creating Media Products Funded? -Independent Financing of a Single Good -Financing a Single Medium through Publisher Funding -Financing a Continuous Medium o The Economics of Audiences: Ways of Paying for Media Products § Characteristics of Advertiser-Supported Media § Characteristics of Media Not Supported by Advertising -Direct Pay -Subscription -Emerging Payment Models § Characteristics of Media with Dual Revenue Streams o Emerging Economic Strategies for Media Industries o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER SIX: TECHNOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRIES o Theories of Technological Change § Circuit of Cultural Production o Technology and Other Conditions § Technology and Industry Structure § Technology and Prevalent Revenue Models o Technological Conditions and Media Industry Practices o Industrial Restraints on Technological Innovation o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER SEVEN: CREATIVE PRACTICES AND MEDIA WORK o Creative Visions: Approaches to Making Media o Creative Roles Above and Below-the-Line o Industry Executives: Enabling and Limiting Creativity § Commercial Influences: Audience Research § Commercial Influences: Industry Norms, Organizational Cultures, and Circumscribed Agency o Creativity in an Era of Change o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER EIGHT: MEDIA DISTRIBUTION AND AGGREGATION PRACTICES o Distinguishing Distribution and Aggregation Practices o Distribution and Aggregation Industry Roles § The Roles of Distributors § The Roles of Aggregators o Distribution and Aggregation Strategies § Windowing: A Changing Strategy of Media Distribution o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER NINE: DIGITIZATION o Understanding Digitization o Digitization and Shifts in Production § Print § Audio § Video o Digitization and Shifts in Aggregation and Distribution § Digital Distribution in the Newspaper Industry o Digitization and Changes in Use § Choice § Fragmentation § Convenience o Coming Change o Conclusion o Questions CHAPTER TEN: MEDIA GLOBALIZATION o The History of Media Globalization and American Dominance o Drivers of Media Globalization § Film § Television § Gaming § Music § Magazines § Newspapers § Advertising o Barriers to Media Globalization § Cultural Barriers § Technological and Regulatory Barriers o Overcoming Barriers to Globalization § Global Promotions and Buzz § International Co-Production § Dubbing and Subtitling § Localization § Outsourcing o Media Globalization in the Global South o The Commercial and Social Consequences of Media Globalization § Expanded Markets and Innovation § Cultural Imperialism vs. Hybridity § Connecting Dispersed Communities o Conclusion o Questions

Timothy Havens , University of Iowa

Amanda Lotz , University of Michigan

Timothy Havens is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and in the Program in African American Studies at the University of Iowa. Amanda D. Lotz is an associate professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan.

"This is the best book available for teaching media industries studies. Additionally, it has many of the specific details and examples that are difficult to remember off the top of your head in a lecture." - Ethan Tussey, Georgia State University

"Understanding Media Industries is a comprehensive, readable, and accessible text for teaching students how to thoughtfully and productively analyze the operations of media industries and how those operations shape media content. It is rich with examples, usefully explained vocabulary, and great teaching materials."--Erin Copple Smith, Austin College

"I would highly recommend using Understanding Media Industries in your course because that book shows the historical, cultural, and economic factors that influence the intricate process of producing texts in the media industries. It has great a great framework and vocabulary to help students write about the production of texts, excellent questions in the back of chapters you can pose to them, and addresses the production side of the industry enough to keep the vast number of students from the major engaged that want to make their own films." - Max Hohner, Arizona State University

"This is a substantial, authoritative, and eminently readable/teachable text which generally does a good job of identifying critical issues in media practices, and their origins in history, economics, and technology." - Stuart Moulthrop, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

"Havens and Lotz have their fingers on the pulse of the media industry."--Vicki Mayer, Tulane University