The dialectics of economic characteristics and industry structure in cultural industries

In recent years, the global cultural industry has been booming, and digital technology has brought new business models, opportunities, and development potential to the industry. According to reports from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the global cultural industry has reached a production value of 12 trillion US dollars, steadily increasing since 2000. However, the definition and scope of the cultural industry are still ambiguous. The United States refers to it as the entertainment industry, while the United Kingdom and Europe prefer to use the term creative industries. China and South Korea call it the cultural or content industry, while Taiwan refers to it as the cultural and creative industry. The academic and industrial sectors also use the terms media industry and cultural industry interchangeably. While each nomenclature carries its own merits, they also possess inherent limitations. In any case, they are all highly related to leisure, entertainment, creativity, and media. The detailed industries include film, broadcasting, cable, music, publishing, professional sports, performing arts, gambling, games, theme parks, and fashion luxury, among others. This work attempts to explore the differences and similarities in the industrial structure and competitiveness of various sub-industries from the perspectives of historical context, economic characteristics, industry structure, and competition. It also provides a series of dialectical arguments and suggestions on the government’s role and policies.