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Slide1 : Measuring diversity in the recording industry: an international comparison. Heritiana Ranaivoson Heritiana.Ranaivoson@malix.univ-paris1.fr CES-MATISSE CNRS – Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne


Introduction : Introduction The crucial issue of diversity, from bio- to cultural diversity (Unesco convention, 2005). Diversity as a political aim… requires to be assessed.


Slide3 : A multidimensional approach of diversity Sources & Indexes of measurement of diversity in the recording industry Main results on the OECD countries and limits of the approach Possibilities of extension to other cultural fields


1.1. Diversity as a mix of variety, balance and disparity (Stirling, 1998; Moreau and Peltier, 2004). : 1.1. Diversity as a mix of variety, balance and disparity (Stirling, 1998; Moreau and Peltier, 2004).


1.2 Product diversity / Producer diversity : 1.2 Product diversity / Producer diversity Cultural diversity as a case of diversity of production in the case of the cultural industries


1.3 Supplied diversity / consumed diversity (Moreau and Peltier, 2004) : 1.3 Supplied diversity / consumed diversity (Moreau and Peltier, 2004) Supplied diversity : What level and nature of diversity is made available by the producers? How diverse are these producers? Consumed diversity : Based on this supplied diversity what level and nature of diversity is actually consumed?


Slide7 : As a result of these three definitions of diversity, diversity in the cultural industries is defined as the variety, balance and disparity of, on the one hand, the products in the way they are made available and then consumed and of, on the other hand, the producers according to their potential market power and the way this power is expressed.


2. Sources & Indexes : 2. Sources & Indexes Data on 73 countries, from 1958 to 2005. Every member of the OECD is represented (except for Luxembourg). More general data (population, GDP, broadband).


Indexes built to assess diversity in the recording industry – General considerations : Indexes built to assess diversity in the recording industry – General considerations Most are very simple ones (e.g. ) The Shannon index is used to assess both variety and balance (Shannon and Weaver, 1949) : The Shannon evenness index (Pielou, 1969) only takes balance into account : All indexes are not partial indexes of cultural diversity but they all give information on cultural diversity.


Indexes built to assess diversity in the recording industry – some examples: : Indexes built to assess diversity in the recording industry – some examples: Market share of domestic discs : A variant of the Shannon index is used for assessing diversity of distribution : being the market share (in %) of the ith major, the number of major companies, the market share of the independent companies as a whole.


3. Main results on the OECD countries and limits of the approach : 3. Main results on the OECD countries and limits of the approach The first international assessment of diversity in the recording industry. Independent evolutions of most characteristics of national markets. Global evolutions (Oecd countries): - the increasing concentration of distribution, - parallel evolutions of sales per capita , - an increasing market share of local production in most countries (especially the wealthiest) but... - …a reduced diversity in terms of origin of consumed discs.


Some limits : Some limits Heterogeneity of sources: - difficult comparisons in terms of levels => comparisons of evolutions, - missing data => use of moving averages to build a second more complete database, - possible different definitions of types. A rather ‘macroeconomic’ approach. Discussable tools. A rather descriptive approach => causal links to be investigated


4. Possible applications to other fields : 4. Possible applications to other fields Some tools already used in other cultural industries: film (Moreau & Peltier, 2004), publishing (Benhamou & Peltier, 2006). The approach is fundamentally inductive while relying on tools broadly used in economic analysis of institutional diversity or of concentration, as well as in other disciplines (e.g. information theory, biology). => ‘Easily’ adaptable to applied studies of diversity, notably to other media and cultural sectors.


Thank you for listening. : Thank you for listening.