An attempt to unified approach to the evolution of products in the entertainment industry

Abstract

Aim. We analyze temporal dynamics of entertainment industry including literature,
music, fi lms and video games, introducing possible analogies between them. We provide
a framework for further explanation based on the economic concepts as revenue, organization
structure and marketing goals in these creative industries for different technological
eras.
Methods. Initially, accurate data collected for time series of weekly record sales are
analyzed from statistical point of view (e.g. networks of artists, record labels and producers).
This method may be extended to other parts of entertainment industry in search of
analogies, under the infl uence of technological revolutions.
Results. We provide the statistical properties of the mass art entertainment industry
(including value of the markets, seasonality, products life-cycles) and interactions between
various kinds of entertainment (e.g. fi lms might be infl uenced by literature with a delay).
We are able to distinguish predigital, digital and postdigital eras.
Conclusions. There are many ways of describing and measuring the impact of selected
entertainment industries with the most important as literature, music, fi lms and video
games. However, universal analogies may explain objective properties of entertainment
industry in general.