The Cultural Industries in Long-Term Historical Context

We invite you to attend an event that marks the publication of the new, fifth edition of David Hesmondhalgh’s book The Cultural Industries. This will take place at the British Academy (10 Carlton House Terrace, London) on Thursday 12 March, from 6.15pm. (Nearest underground and rail: Charing Cross).

There will be a drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) reception from 6.15 to 7, followed from 7pm to 8pm by a discussion of recent developments in the cultural and creative industries, and in research about those industries. This will be a conversation between David Hesmondhalgh and Anamik Saha, and there’ll be time for audience questions and comments.

Admission is free, but please register on Eventbrite by the end of Monday, 23 February

We’d be grateful if you could inform us via Eventbrite and by email to Luna Fu on [email protected] as soon as possible if it turns out you’re unable to attend, as numbers will be limited. For any questions about the event, please contact Luna.

David Hesmondhalgh is Professor of Media, Music and Culture at the University of Leeds. He is the author of various books, including Why Music Matters (2013), Creative Labour (2010, with Sarah Baker) and editor of, amongst other collections, Media and Society, 6th edition (co-edited with James Curran). He’s currently writing a book called Is Music Getting Worse?

Anamik Saha is Professor of Race and Media at the University of Leeds and is the author of Race and the Cultural Industries (2018), The Anti-Racist Media Manifesto (with Francesca Sobande and Gavan Titley, 2024) and Race, Culture and Media (2nd edition, 2025).

David Hesmondhalgh’s work on the fifth edition of The Cultural Industries and for this event are supported by the research project, MUSICSTREAM: Music Culture in the Age of Streaming, funded by an Advanced Research Grant awarded by the European Research Council under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 scheme.

David Hesmondhalgh’s book The Cultural Industries was first published in 2002. It traced changes and continuities in cultural production and distribution since the 1920s, with special attention to political, economic, technological and socio-cultural changes that had led to a new importance for the cultural and creative industries by the 1990s.

Succeeding, expanded editions of the book in 2007, 2013 and 2019 traced further changes and continuities in the twenty-first century, notably the increasing role of the IT sector. The new fifth edition, published in January, significantly revises and updates those earlier volumes, paying attention to developments in the 2020s - but still putting them in long-term context.

Endorsements:

The Cultural Industries is a monumental achievement. A mighty work of intellectual synthesis and field leadership, it brilliantly lays out what the cultural industries are, how they work, how they’re changing, and why they matter. Hesmondhalgh has done us all a great service by writing it in the first place, and by taking the time to make meaningful and substantial revisions, including this latest edition, with its incorporation of newly important issues such as AI. Jean Burgess, Distinguished Professor of Digital Media, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

The Cultural Industries is justly celebrated for many reasons, but what I find most compelling is the civic and moral passion that infuses every page. While never polemical, Hesmondhalgh makes clear why the making of culture matters and what’s at stake. With each new much-awaited edition, it is this quality that ensures the book’s timeless relevance. Rodney Benson, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University, USA

This new edition is both a classic - guiding research on the cultural industries over the past decades - and the most comprehensive, up-to-date study of these industries today. Written in an intelligent, personal voice, the book not only provides sharp definitions and insightful discussions but also offers a deep and sustained reflection on the continuities and changes in power, technologies, culture, and production. Thomas Poell, Professor of Data, Culture & Institutions, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Critical, cosmopolitan, and timely, the fifth edition of Hesmondhalgh’s magnum opus offers the most coherent and comprehensive introduction to cultural industries to date. It systematically identifies the pitfalls and pathways for socio-cultural change. Drawing on and advancing cultural studies as well as political economy frameworks, this volume is theoretically innovative, self-reflexive, and rich in case studies. This indispensable resource is essential for all students and scholars examining cultural industries, whether traditional or emergent, problematic or progressive. Jack Linchuan Qiu, Professor of Media Technology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Hesmondhalgh gives us a thoughtful, historical understanding of the cultural industries so many of us attempt to comprehend in our everyday lives, from generative AI to the increasing power of “influencers” to the various ways the cultural industries continue to be a powerful platform for activism. In so doing, he offers readers not only a brilliant analysis of why cultural industries matter, but for whom they matter. Sarah Banet-Weiser, Professor and Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA

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