Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending Consumption of Culture, reviewed

We look at this book which considers the impact of streaming on how we live, our culture, and the emerging trends in terms of how we are doing things differently. Written by David Arditi. Publication: 15th April 2021, available from Society Now here.

Streaming Culture Subscription Platforms and the Unending Consumption of Culture

This is an interesting and thought provoking book. We would not agree with all of the conclusions, but at the same time it certainly made us go away and consider if we were using streaming in the same ways as outlined in the book, and if we also agreed, or disagreed with the cultural impacts suggested by the author. We would certainly agree with the author that streaming has changed how we watch, consume, and engage with ‘content’, TV show, vlogs, gamers, and everything and anything else that we chose to watch.

We have seen an explosion of, we’re just going to call it ‘content’, not every one likes to use this term, as they feel it is almost insulting and reductionist. Except that it also feels slightly right too. It is content, our eyeballs, watching something, be it a traditional TV show, or a DIY channel, or a youtuber, sharing insights into their own particular life styles. In this context Arditi’s book is a good read, though provoking, and making you reflect on where we are currently at. Does it change what is made, does it change how we ‘consume it’, but does it also shape the format of what is produced too? These are all good questions to ask, and Arditi attempts to wrestle with them.

Some of his dilemmas about whether to buy DVD boxsets or pay for a subscription felt a little dated. Maybe it is just us, but it already feels like that horse has bolted as we have no, working, devices left, that even play DVDs. So, while there maybe some emotional attachment to some of the physical DVDs, it is actually pretty hard to even play any of them – which would suggest that this is no longer even much of a consideration. The book is a short read, but definitely raised questions that we should be thinking about. Check it out.

More about the book ->

If you ask today’s children what they like to watch, many of them are likely to say YouTube instead of naming a favourite broadcast television programme.   YouTube is among other services like Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, Apple Music and Amazon Prime, that have exploded on to the scene, completing transforming the way we consume culture.

These platforms allow us to access content at the click of a button and they have turned the norms surrounding cultural consumption upside down. How has this shift to an apparently unending supply of content affected the way we consume our favourite binge-worthy show, blockbuster movie or hot new album release?  Streaming Culture explores the complex and ever evolving relationship that exists between culture and technology

Positioning streaming alongside a major shift to contemporary capitalism, David Arditi demonstrates that streaming platforms have created an economy where consumers pay more for the same amount of consumptive time. Encouraging us to look beyond the seemingly limitless supply of multimedia content, Arditi calls attention to the underlying dynamics of instant viewing – in which our access to content depends on any given service’s willingness, and ability, to license it.

Arditi asks where we go beyond unending consumption.  Will we hit a point where we don’t want to subscribe to more services?  Does a realm of non-profit consumption await, where small community creators come together to produce cultural goods using streaming technology?

The moving nature of both streaming and culture points to an eminent shift in the structure of society.

CONTENTS:

Chapter 1. Introduction: Caught in the Stream

Chapter 2. Digital Retail: Disruption, Distribution, and Disintermediation

Chapter 3. Streaming Music: Unending Consumption Begins

Chapter 4. Streaming Film: Simultaneous Release, Circumventing Censorship, and Indies

Chapter 5. Streaming TV: The Golden Age of TV and Flow Interrupted

Chapter 6. Streaming Video Games: Never Own a Game Again

Chapter 7. New Cultural Forms: Dominant, Residual, and Emergent

Chapter 8. Conclusion

About the Author:

David Arditi is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Theory at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA.

Emerald Publishing was founded in 1967 to champion new ideas that would advance the research and practice of business and management.  Today, we continue to nurture fresh thinking in applied fields where we feel we can make a real difference, now also including the social sciences.  Emerald manages a portfolio of over 300 journals and over 3,000 books and book series volumes, over 1,500 teaching cases as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.  Emerald Publishing is part of the Emerald Group.

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