The Economics of Abundance and Canadian Culture
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While many non-Canadians might wonder whether “Canadian Culture” is oxymoronic - the impression one gets of us from the foreign media is almost universally bland - many Canadians intuitively understand the importance of Canadian stories in their lives. I’m not talking here about celebrating just Farley Mowat or the CBC - not that there’s anything wrong with that - I’m speaking about a distinct Canadian voice.
We’ve had a troubled relationship with this voice in recent years, and we’ve had a lot of difficulty convincing even ourselves on its value. For example, for many years we’ve had Canadian content rules - rules that require certain Canadian content (music, TV) to be given visibility - whether the consumer wants it or not. We’ve tried to figure out how to jury-rig the magazine business to give ourselves more profile. And of course we’ve just plain struggled - in so many ways - with how best to handle that cultural behemoth that lies to our south - the land of endless TV, the inaptly named talk radio (“shout” radio, perhaps?), and oh yes - the O.J. Simpson trial, the World Wrestling Federation, Ron Popeil and - sigh - Hollywood. All of this effort has had, in my opinion, dubious value.
But what I’ve found perhaps most surprising about the discussion over Canadian content is that in recent years there really hasn’t been one. Or at least, much less of a discussion than there was in the 80’s and 90’s, when we seemed to be quite earnestly - and constantly - trying to understand how to protect our culture. Looking back now, perhaps that period was a remnant of the Trudeau years, imbued as they were with a sense of the importance of Canadian-ness, perhaps it was a consequence of bitter and divisive discussion over the Free Trade Agreement - but in recent years, with the possible exception of Maude Barlow, the debate over the protection of Canadian culture has fallen silent. Which strikes me as odd, not least because now, more than ever before, does it seem to be at risk of becoming irrelevant. Indeed lately I’ve been wondering - will the Internet kill Canadian culture?
I don’t think this is hyperbole. With the effect of geography rapidly diminishing in the distribution of media (Dead tree publishing; radio; cable TV, etc.), old monopolies are dying fast, or soon will be, and the extraordinary growth of video online means that TV - the single most effective communicator of culture - will soon be next. In a billion channel universe, with the geographical monopolies imposed by old technologies fast disappearing, and Canadians able to sample from the whole world’s delights, will Canadians - or anyone else - continue to seek out Canadian content?
I’m beginning to believe that what many are starting to describe as scarcity economics, or the economics of abundance, is an illustration of the opportunity for our mass media domination. Not your garden variety 80’s or 90’s mass media domination, but your real “end of the world as we know it” mass media domination. As we move to information economies, in many markets scarcity becomes abundance, marginal costs are minimal, and price tends to zero. In this environment - and culture is a perfect example - geography becomes irrelevant, artificial monopolies fail, and (from a comment on Mike Masnick’s excellent recent post on the topic) “network economics starts to take hold. The very best free products will take the lion’s share of users attention, which has tremendous value for different economic models.” The scenario that this suggests is of living right next door to a cultural black hole - a market that exerts such a strong cultural pull that no customer can escape its gravity. In that environment, will anyone - Canadians or otherwise - care about Canadian voices?
It’s important to remember that competition in markets characterized by abundance has tended to produce business models that offer a wide spectrum of products for free, with revenues coming from advertising. So far, almost no one in the news media has been able to defend a subscription-based model in the face of that, and while it’s still early days in other media, prices are coming down. And the advertising model generally requires a mass audience. And competing for that mass audience against the entire world and every other form of content is - well - is a big job. Many Canadians will be much more interested in what the rest of the world has to offer. For example, since podcasting emerged as a broadcasting technology I’ve stopped listening to CBC radio (I’ve never listened to other Canadian radio). Since Wi-Fi I’ve spent considerably more of my entertainment time online and correspondingly less time reading dead tree media - a media in which Canadian publications had a decided advantage (distribution costs being what they are). As video moves online, what will happen to my TV watching? This is my last point of contact with the CBC - what happens next?
I’m not sure. But I’m inclined to think that the first effect will be the end of small voices - small niched Canadian cultural content providers who will have to compete against free globally produced mass-market content for their audience, a task too Sisyphean for all but a very few. And that inevitably that competition will start working its way up the food chain until the CBCs and CTVs of the world are struggling against it. One can’t help but suspect that in a very short while the face of Canadian culture will be very different than it is now.
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Some good points, Rob. There’s no question that the media landscape is being remade in a fairly disruptive way, and it’s not clear where things will be when the dust settles. That said, though, I think Canadian content is likely to be better served by a borderless, atomized, distributed media market than by the kind of ham-handed Canadian content rules of the 1970s and ’80s.
I’m inclined to agree, Mathew, though I have at least a nostalgic fondness for ham. I keep wondering whether and when Canadian media is going to be roused from its drowsy slumber.
Mmmmmm. Ham :-)
Yes, I think the days of media being served with a dose of ham, or pork(barrel), for that matter, must surely be largely over.
Rob, thanks for opening up this discussion. You are absolutely right, despite the massive implications for Canadian content creators and mediators in a borderless internet economy for content, the discourse in Canada has been for the most part nonexistent. Much of my consulting work in public policy over the past year has focused on this very area. I have been frustrated by the profound silence/befuddlement of Canada’s media and cultural establishment and the disengagement of the public.
While the dangers to established media channels and content creators are potentially great, I disagree about the threat to Canadian culture and voices. In order to see the reality, we need to redefine and reconceptualize culture; culture defined as our values and their expression. Some of those values are unique, most of them are not. We share much with our southern neighbours, with Western and non-Western cultural traditions and of course we share many universal human values in a globalized world of consumer culture.
We need to start thinking about cultural/content product in a global marketplace that leverages the universal to express the unique with an authentic voice by focusing on quality. Bandwidth and content may be abundant, but quality is still rare, scarce and valuable.
I will have more to say soon in a blog post/essay on this topic. Thanks for the opening salvo.
Very well written, and an important topic for any Canadian or individual who holds an appreciation for Canadian culture (such as myself). After living in Canada for 7 years, I’m back in the United States and there are certainly times that I miss my home back in Toronto. When trying to describe to an L.A. native how the Toronto or Montreal independent music scene is different, I struggled to put it into words. Certainly, there is less money. Definitely, many artists and bands are “lost” to the U.S., *but* there’s a more open, accepting, diverse range of sounds that have come out of these two music “hubs” which I’ve come to love over the years.
I don’t think it’s the Internet that is the greatest threat to Canadian culture. In fact, whereas 10 years ago it might have been difficult to keep up with the Canadian music scene without a fairly substantial effort, websites such as Maple Music (www.maplemusic.com) and labels such as Arts and Crafts (http://arts-crafts.ca), as well as the individual Myspace pages of my local favorites, such as Justin Nozuka and Shannon Lee Briggs, who make 4000 miles bareable.
The internet is all about niche markets — if television dies and radio implodes (which there has been a call for this for *many* years so I’m inclined to feel abit “I’ll believe it when I see it” about that matter), then so much the better. New mainstream entertainment/cultural outlets will undoubtedly emerge, probably out of something that once was a ‘niche’. Canadian Idol might not make it, but really…would you miss it? And does it really embody Canadian culture? I’d truly like to think not. ;-)
I think you’re right about quality being rare (in any cultural marketplace), Mark. And like Mathew, I do believe that Canadian content of quality will attract attention. In the meantime, though, I suspect we’re in for a period of considerable displacement and adjustment. I look for you posts on this.
I would definitely not miss Canadian Idol, Rachel. And I suspect that Canadian entertainment that merely imitates what others do much ‘better’ would not survive long. Thank goodness.
Interesting analysis Rob. But I think you leave out one big piece of the cultural puzzle. It’s the cultural artifact called “news.” Canadian media outfits and the journalists who work for them enjoy a protected status because foreign media aren’t interested in providing comprehensive coverage of Canadian news. That’s one reason for example, that CBC focuses so heavily on Canadian news coverage. In cultural terms, news is not just the transmission of useful or interesting facts, information, commentary etc. It’s also a ritualized form in which communities of interest participate in creating cultural meaning. In other words, news is as much a vehicle for telling Canadian stories as fictional drama is. I use that comparison because news is inherently a dramatic form. I leave it to you to work out the economic angle on this.
Read your article on Canadian culture over at P2Pnet.net, today. Was struck by
the tone of lament, wondering what will happen to Canadian culture. I’d like
to pass this thought along, if I may.
By November of 2007, some 59 square miles of Minneapolis in Minnesota, USA,
will be “unwired”. A giant community-based wireless network will commence
operations. It is expected there will be a flourish of new
neighborhood-oriented networks created, each with their own unique cultural
identity. Local advertising will be targeted to keep the interest of visitors
within the network, and contribute to their cultural development through
videoconferencing, VoIP, fund-raising, Internet-based tv and radio, etc. Local
musicians and artists will find exposure to a semi-captured market that today’s
radio and tv can’t provide. The secret ingredient lies with “interaction and
participation” venues not now available.
Best of all, these community-based wireless networks flash by the net
neutrality issue, and ensure a robust and thriving world of communication,
entertainment, and education opportunity for all.
An antenna that connects each household can be built for $3 to $7USD, which
means there need not be any ISP involved. Hmmmm. No wonder the telcos and
cable monopolies don’t want you and I to know about that. :)
It’s a good point, Bruce, though I didn’t mention news more because that market seems to be pretty well evolved on the net now. There’s no question that local coverage will stay local - though I’m not at all sure that the CBC will continue to be a big player. One might wonder, in an atomized media landscape, whether independent local providers who syndicate their content to aggregators (like Google News, or whatever, might start displacing it. Not sure. Also not sure, at the end of the day, just how large that market is.
Another curious point - I have to say that inthe last couple of years I’ve been paying much more attention to foreign news than local, largely because foreign news is so much better covered on the Web, and that’s where I get my news. Hmmm ….
Well, we can thank George W. Bush for making foreign news so exciting again. Nothing like a disastrous war or two to boost news interest. As for the economic effects of news production, I’d just point to the obvious fact that news is a relatively expensive, labour intensive product. That’s why the big guys — the Globe and Mail, CBC, CTV etc. — will continue to be players, at least as far as national/provincial news is concerned. I acknowledge that much action is moving to the Web. As I understand it, the Globe expects to be generating more revenue on the Web by 2010 than it will through hard copy paper sales. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Globe will continue to profit handsomely from telling Canadian stories. I haven’t done the research, but I’d say news must account for a big chunk of Canadian cultural production. And, as I say, it’s a protected market.