Contemporary media are far more derivative and finance-driven than past media

Evidence

The conflict between capital and culture has been simmering for hundreds of years, and Hollywood and the popular music industries have always involved big companies that sought to commodify culture and corner the market. What’s different about film, television, and music today? In a word, it’s more often derivative. The degree to which a popular story or song is based on a previous story or song, directly or indirectly, is much higher than it was in the past. The degree to which the formal elements within a story or song are directly connected to business decisions within the company that funded that story or song is much higher. The degree to which a hit song or popular story is plundered for all its worth through derivative and ancillary products is much higher. The ratio of global hits to the rarely seen or heard is wider than ever. The disparity between the big-budget products of high-powered producers and superstar musicians and the smaller-scale, independent output of lower-wage creators has never been wider. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 16

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the book’s central sense of ‘derivative’ — formal elements directly tied to the funding company’s business decisions.
• XREF: connects to: Media pioneers love the medium while later waves arrive purely to chase profit — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 166