New Book - Entertainment Management: Towards Best Practice

I'm pleased to announce that my new book (edited with Ben Walmsley from Leeds University) ‘Entertainment Management: Towards Best Practice’ has just been published by CABI.

The book has been written to be multidisciplinary by specialists in their respective areas, and would be useful to students studying a range of management disciplines where the need to attract an audience is crucial to success, this includes: entertainment; events; leisure; tourism; hospitality; arts; culture; music; media; sport; advertising; recreation; and business.

The chapter list is as follows:

 Foreword – Ruth Rentschler

The Entertainment Industries: A Re-introduction - Stuart Moss

 Entertainment Environments - Stuart Moss

Marketing Entertainment - Ben Walmsley

Managing Public Relations - Shirley Beresford and Andreas Schwarz

Mass Media and Entertainment Management - Beccy Watson and John Horne

 Event Planning and Management - Lisa Devine and Stuart Moss

Management in Entertainment Organizations - Lisa Gorton

Human Resources and Artist Management - Maria Barrett

Arts and Cultural Management - Ben Walmsley

Responsible Entertainment Management - Dirk Reiser and Stuart Moss

Enterprise, Creativity and Small Business - Volker Rundshagen, Guido Sommer and Stuart Moss

Introduction to Entertainment Law - Dinusha Mendis

Managing Strategic and Financial Performance - Martin Piber and Ben Walmsley

Consultancy - Simon Woodward, Amanda Peacock and Peter McQuitty

Visitor Attraction Management - Peter D. Dewhurst and Edwin Thwaites

Afterword: The Future - James Roberts

The above contributors represent a range of institutions including: Deakin University (Australia); Leeds Metropolitan University (UK); The University of Leeds (UK); Ilmenau University of Technology (Germany); The University of Central Lancashire (UK); Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (UK); Cologne Business School (Germany); Bournemouth University (UK); Leopold-Franzens University (Austria); PLB Ltd (UK); Oxford City Council (UK); and The University of Derby (UK).

This book has been three years in the making, and Ben and I are both very pleased with the end product.

It is available online from a variety of retailers and through the CABI website in hardback, softback and e-versions: http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781780640228

Please do forward this to anyone that you feel may be interested in this title.

Entertainment Management Students Need a High Level of Employability Skills

The word ‘employability’ has been widely used in academia since the publication of the Dearing Report in the UK in 1997. Prior to the Dearing Report a number of terms and phrases were (and still are) used to describe the qualities to which both ‘employability skills’ and ‘soft skills’ has commonly become an umbrella term for. These include: key skills; transferable skills; personal skills; interpersonal skills; and more recently entrepreneurial skills. Hind and Moss (2005) identify ‘employability skills’ as being a collective term for all of the above. However, Yorke (2006, p.1) identifies that employability in higher education (HE) is about much more than skills alone, stating that employability is a ‘set of achievements which constitute a necessary but not sufficient condition for the gaining of employment…and is strongly aligned with the academic valuing of good learning’.

It is a personal observation from working with partner institutions in Europe and Africa that ‘employability’ as an academic term and concept has taken time to filter beyond UK shores into higher education institutions (HEIs) and is still often unheard of. Even the recognition of the need for non-subject specific soft skills development is seemingly not globally prevalent amongst HE providers (Andrews and Higson, 2008), despite the fact that industry is continuously seeking improved soft skills from graduates (Doctorjob, 2002; BBC, 2006; BBC, 2008). The manner by which soft skills are taught and assessed varies greatly from one institution to another. Institutions that teach Entertainment Management courses need graduates with a range of highly developed soft skills, particularly when dealing with customers in the service sector, where the face of an employee may be regarded as the face of the company (Denny, 2009).

Entertainment Management at HE level is a specialist course in business and management that contextualises content to the entertainment industry, and is designed to develop learners into becoming future managers. Entertainment management courses generally blend three learning strands:

·       pure business disciplines such as marketing, finance and human resources;

·       specialist industry knowledge relating to the vast entertainment industry and its eighteen unique sectors that deliver entertainment to audiences predominantly in three ways - via the media, within visitor attractions, and at live events (Moss, 2009);

·       and employability skills development including: the development of academic disciplines such as essay writing and presentation technique; personal and interpersonal skills including communication skills; group working ability; selling and negotiation skills; entrepreneurship and career development skills.

At Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) all undergraduate Entertainment Management students start developing their portfolio of employability skills at the beginning of the course. A first year module has been developed – ‘Employability & Management Skills’ (EMS) to initiate this process. EMS includes a variety of assessment, learning and teaching strategies to facilitate the students’ skills development. Micro-teaching is a key component of the learning strategies used with work related management scenarios providing the focus for a theatre role play exercise. Peer assessment is used in a creative way to provide rapid and immediate feedback to the students on the development of their skills. This lays the foundation for further development of employability skills beyond level one where they are integrated and embedded into the students’ curriculum in module learning outcomes that are tested through assessment at all levels of the course.

A number of other teaching and learning strategies in relation to employability and soft skills development are deployed within the entertainment management curriculum at LMU. These are briefly summarised below:

·       specific ‘management’ modules where students learn effective management techniques for the industry;

·       specific modules relating to entrepreneurship and creativity, including ‘An Introduction to Enterprise and Small Business’ and ‘Entrepreneurship in the Creative and Cultural Industries’;

·       work placements in the first and second year of 80 hours each, during which students must complete key skills audits and self development reflective portfolios;

·       optional practical work experience in year three on a 48 week industrial placement;

·       in the final year, students work as entertainment industry management consultants to solve work-related problems that are set by real entertainment organisations in the module ‘Entertainment Consultancy Project’;

·       students complete progress files and develop personal development plans to support their learning and skills development at each level of their course;

·       and through the provision of extensive online resources, including ‘Skills for Learning’, which is a website dedicated to employability and soft skills development, as well as extensive facilities provided within ‘X-Stream’ the university’s virtual learning environment (Hind, Moss and McKellen, 2006).

The approach to skills development at LMU strongly embraces the pedagogy behind employability, as identified by Yorke (2006) in terms of ‘good learning’ and student achievement that takes place outside of the traditional classroom setting, particularly with the involvement of external partners through placements and the all-important exposure to ‘real’ people in industry.

The true added value of entertainment management education will need ‘to be drawn from a shift towards skill provision, as pure technical knowledge expires fast and is more easily accessible than ever before from the internet’ (Rundshagen, 2010). The entertainment industry is a skills-hungry service industry, and those within entertainment education must meet the skills demand of the labour market. Ultimately for providers of entertainment management education, the success of their graduates in securing and maintaining employment will be the real test of this.

References

Andrews, J. and Higson, H. (2008) Graduate employability, ‘soft skills’ versus ‘hard’ business knowledge: A European study. Higher Education in Europe. Vol. 33, Issue 4, December 2008, pp. 411 – 422.

British Broadcasting Corporation. (2006) Graduate demand outstrips skills. [Internet] London, BBC. URL available from Accessed 1st November, 2006.

British Broadcasting Corporation. (2008) Graduate literacy 'worries firms'. [Internet] London, BBC. URL available from < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7494172.stm> Accessed 1st June, 2010.

Denny, R. (2009) Motivate to win. 3^rd ed. London, Kogan Page.

Doctorjob. (2002) Ill Communication. Doctorjob. Summer 2002, p.4.

Hind, D. and Moss, S. (2005) Employability skills. Sunderland, Business Education Publishers.

Hind, D., Moss, S. and McKellen, S. (2006) Innovative Assessment Strategies for Developing Employability Skills into the Tourism and Entertainment Management Curriculum at Leeds Metropolitan University. The 20^th Businet Annual Conference. Berlin, November 2006.

Moss, S. (ed.) (2009) The entertainment industry: an introduction. Wallingford, CABI.

Rundshagen, V. (V.Rundshagen@ews-koeln.de), 26^th March 2010. AW: Employability survey. Email to S. Moss (s.moss@leedsmet.ac.uk).

Yorke, M. (2006) Learning and employability, series one: employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not. York, Higher Education Academy.

Issues in Contemporary Entertainment and Arts Management (ICrEAM) Database is Launched

ICrEAM can be found at http://www.icream.eu , it is a contemporary issues and news database that has been created for students, academics, researchers and those working in the field of entertainment  / arts management - or a related discipline including leisure, events, tourism, cultural studies, creative industries, and media studies.

It is designed to provide up to date links to (mostly) contemporary news articles in the various sectors of the entertainment industry. ICrEAM was established by staff and students on the BA (Hons) Entertainment Management at Leeds Metropolitan University in May 2010, and will be a continually growing resource, where entertainment and arts management related articles will be summarised and linked to according to the sector(s) of the entertainment industry that the article most relates to.

We are ALWAYS looking to work with new academic partners in the fields of entertainment and arts management globally, if you would like to get involved in ICrEAM please do get in touch, using the email address at the top of this page. You can also suggest links for ICrEAM using the form linked here, we also have an ICrEAM Facebook Page on which you can suggest links for us to add to ICrEAM, please 'Like' our Facebook Page and suggest links on the page's wall.

Dark Tourism is Edutainment

Dark tourism is a term used to describe the visitation of sites that were once associated with death, suffering or disaster. Creating visitor attractions that serve as edutainment facilities at these sites is something that does not sit comfortably with many people and raises the ethical and moral question as to whether it is ‘right’ to do so. Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in Poland, is one of the sites of the world’s single largest atrocity in history, the genocide of Jews by Nazi Germany in the Second World War. The ‘final solution’ at Auschwitz lead to over a million people - mostly Jews, but also prisoners of war, political objectors, homosexuals, and gypsies (amongst others) from all over Europe being gassed, worked, starved, and tortured to death. In 1947 a museum was built at Auschwitz, to commemorate those who had died and to educate visitors as to the true atrocities that occurred there. In 1979 Auschwitz was made a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in recognition of the unique role that it played in history, and to promote peace amongst future generations through education of past atrocities. To date 25 million people have visited the museum (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2008), with this number set to rise even further with the increase in the number of budget airlines that are flying to nearby Krakow from other European destinations. The very notion that such a setting could be considered an entertainment venue is a very uncomfortable one for many. But this is considering the word entertainment as something ‘light’ or ‘happy’ which is an outdated use of the word. Auschwitz features exhibits that are designed to educate visitors, and in doing so often causes an emotional response amongst those who feel an empathetic connection with what they are seeing, hearing and reading about. This is edutainment at its most raw controversial edge, but it is undeniably edutainment, it is both captivating and educational, and participated in by (mostly) tourists as part of their recreation.


Reference

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. (2008) Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. [Internet] ABSM, Poland. URL available from: Accessed 20^th July, 2008.

When is entertainment not entertainment?

A person playing a game of Solitaire with a deck of cards is engaging in a recreational activity, which can involve emotional involvement ranging from the euphoria felt from a win, to the disappointment of a loss, but is this genuinely an entertainment experience, or another form of recreation? A game of Solitaire with a deck of cards passes the time, so it is a pastime, it involves participation so it is also leisure, if it is participated in regularly it may also be a hobby, but whether it can also be considered entertainment hinges on the philosophical debate as to whether the player who is generating the activity can also be the audience to it. In other words, is it possible to be both the entertainer and the audience at the same time? There will undoubtedly be various viewpoints on this, some who will believe that it is, as well as those who do not. In the same manner it could be asked does a person singing entertain themselves? And does a person sculpting entertain themselves? They are all likely to be occupied and involved in what they are doing, they may be doing what they are doing as part of a recreational pursuit, their activities may also be amusing, enjoyable and satisfying, but is this really entertaining to them whilst they are doing it? As I have highlighted previously, there is no globally accepted definition as to what exactly constitutes entertainment, leisure, and recreation, in the same way that even global bodies such as the United Nations cannot agree between their own departments (UNCTAD and UNESCO) as to what exactly constitutes culture and creativity. Until a globally accepted definition of ‘all of the above’ can be given, this debate will remain a largely philosophical one, and entertainment sub-sectors such as gaming will always struggle in terms of identity as to whether they belong wholly, partially, or not at all within the entertainment industry.

Sellertainment

Nobody really knows exactly how many advertising messages we are exposed to each day. An interrogation of several respected business journals, asking this very question for US Citizens revealed a number of studies that gave answers ranging from 247 to 3,000. Either way there are a lot.

In an increasingly competitive society, advertising has taken on many forms in order to remain a step ahead of the competition. Many sellers and advertisers are now using entertainment in order to capture the attention of an audience and get their message across – this is sellertainment. A definition of which is ‘entertainment that is designed to sell a product, belief or ideal with the specific intention of increasing take-up amongst the audience’. Sellertainment can be found in a number of guises, some of the more commonly experienced forms of sellertainment are as follows:

· Printed sellertainment: brochures; leaflets; flyers; posters; and adverts in printed media.
· Sellertainment events: industry / trade shows; political rallies; sales parties.
· Media broadcast sellertainment: television and radio advertising; television ‘shopping’ channels.
· Online sellertainment: adverts; pop-ups; banners; and company websites.

Printed sellertainment is relatively commonplace, many magazines and newspapers are loaded (and heavily subsidised) by numerous full page and smaller adverts within them – including the use of ‘advertorials’ – adverts that are disguised as interest stories to get readers interested in the product, belief or ideal being sold.

Posters can be found in numerous locations, large billboards are often displayed by road sides so as to attract the attention of the occupants of passing vehicles. Flyers and leaflets can be found in many places, often pushed through letterboxes as ‘junk mail’ or distributed by hand to passers by, in student cities these are particularly used to advertise club nights.

From fashion shows to the The British International Motor Show, sellertainment events are commonplace. At the ‘World Travel Market’ (currently being held at ExCel in London), countries from around the world showcase themselves to potential buyers, including tour operators, students, and trade body representatives. In order to have appeal to passing potential customers, stands need to be eye catching, and often use entertaining promotional methods such as cultural crafts and artworks, musical performances, traditional costumes, gastronomic delights; dance displays; and many different types of ‘giveaways’. The images below highlight some specific examples of this, from this year’s World Travel Market.

A Formula 1 car helps to sell Abu Dhabi

A band helps to sell Tanzania

Traditional crafts and the 2010 world cup help to sell South Africa

In the recent US elections, the political campaigning cost both parties over $1bn, much of which was spent on large scale rallies where both Republican and Democrat parties attempted to ‘sell’ themselves to the US electorate, both candidates and their Vice Presidents spoke to thousands of people, and in doing so became entertainers themselves to their audiences. On a much smaller scale, ‘home sales parties’ such as Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Virgin Vie, and Ann Summers parties (which all have the broadest appeal to women) are held in a person’s home. With the use of a kit / starter pack or instructions, the ‘host’ typically has to prepare by buying food and drinks for their invited guests. When the party is held, an organisational representative arrives to demonstrate products, as well as organising tasks and games. The idea of the party is that the audience will be tempted to commit themselves to buying a product or products there and then. The host, for their involvement gets a small percentage of the sales revenue – often in the form of ‘points’ which is typically traded for products from the promoting company.

By far the most obvious form of Sellertainment to many people, is that which is broadcast through the media – particularly television. Television adverts or commercials have been in existence since 1941, when the first TV advert was aired in the USA. Television adverts have proved to be good sources of revenue generation for channel operators, but not always popular with viewers. Devices such as TiVo are now available that can record programmes without the adverts – this is of course of concern to many broadcaster stakeholders who do not want to see advertising revenue cut because of this.

The availability of cable / satellite and digital television has lead to the segmentation of channels with many solely providing specialist content – this includes ‘shopping’ channels that are entirely made up of advertising content such as QVC and Bid TV. These channels allow viewers to buy products as they are being advertised in a seemingly live environment by chatty hosts who often ‘play act’ or demonstrate these products to the viewing public. Some shopping channels ‘share’ their frequency with other channels that may only broadcast at certain times of day, allowing shopping channels to take up unused broadcasting capacity.

The internet is host to many forms of advertising, the websites of organisations that are trying to sell a product, belief or ideal to visitors is an example of sellertainment, as are online banner ads, pop ups and other adverts placed upon screens. The use of Flash and dynamic html often allows adverts to run at video quality without taking too long to load. Some websites make viewers watch an advert before allowing them to proceed to the part of the site that the viewer actually wanted to see.

Like it or not, sellertainment is here to stay and will most likely grow for the foreseeable future in our consumer-driven commercial society (excuse the pun). Entertainment Weekly publisher Scott Donaton has written an excellent book called ‘Madison and Vine: Why the Entertainment & Advertising Industries Must Converge to Survive’, which covers this subject area in much greater depth.

The Leeds Entertainment Industry Leads!

This is a significant and exciting time for the Leeds entertainment industry with five recent major advances in the cities entertainment provision. Firstly the Leeds City Museum opened it’s doors to the public in September, it is free to enter and features variable exhibitions, displays, interactive games, video displays, shop and café, and is situated in Millennium Square, one of the cities entertainment hubs.

Secondly Clarence Dock, an area of redeveloped former brown belt land by the River Aire, saw the opening of the 50,000 square foot Alea Casino and Entertainment complex on the 11th October, to accompany the already in existence Royal Armouries, and exclusive bars / restaurants which inhabit the Clarence Dock area. The Alea complex comprises of restaurants, bars, private dining room, private cinema and of course the casino. At the same time, a number of exclusive shopping outlets also opened, seemingly in defiance of the credit crunch – even this was turned into a 'sellertainment' entertainment spectacle with a fashion show hosted by ‘How to Look Good Naked’ presenter Gok Wan.

Thirdly, the newly opened Leeds Academy – currently Leeds largest live music venue opened its doors to the public in October, with an opening night performance by The Kaiser Chiefs. The Academy is a £3m redevelopment of the formerly Luminar Leisure owned Creation nightclub, which before that was the Town and Country Club. The building itself is Grade 1 listed, and has an entertainment industry pedigree, it began life as the ‘Coliseum’ where it played host to music hall, circus and variety in the early twentieth century, before becoming a cinema, then a bingo hall and social club, and even a television studio. It now has a capacity of 2,300 in the main concert area, with a smaller room holding 400 people for smaller bands. The venue is owned by Academy Music Group Ltd.

Fourthly, the second phase of redevelopment of The Leeds Grand Theatre is finally drawing to a conclusion. Last week I was lucky enough to be part of a student group who were the first members of the public to witness the newly created Howard Assembly Room, which is a stunning oval space, with wooden floor and walls that are designed specifically to balance acoustics, how the room will be used specifically, has yet to be confirmed, but it certainly seems like a versatile space, slightly reminiscent of the Sage in Gateshead. The Howard Assembly Room used to be called the Assembly Rooms and had for a number of years been left as vacant storage space within the theatre, but prior to this had operated as the Plaza Cinema from the early 20th Century until 1978 (sometimes showing ‘risqué’ films to gentlemen clientele).

This is the culmination of a £30.5 million redevelopment plan that has also seen: the stalls re-seated with wider chairs for wider bottoms, and more leg room in-between rows (leading to a slight reduction in capacity); an enlargement of the opera pit; the creation of Opera North’s new Opera Centre; new rehearsal spaces; a sandblasted exterior; new roof; new exterior lighting; and the installation of air conditioning. The Grand Theatre was designed by James Robinson Watson and celebrates its 130th birthday in a fortnights time on the 18th November.

Finally and fifthly, the long awaited Leeds Arena development has officially been given the green light to be built on the former Leeds Met ‘Brunswick’ site and a Council Owned plot of land near Claypit Lane Leeds. The area, behind the Grosvenor Casino, and near the Merrion Centre is ideally located for public transport, and should aid regeneration of the area including the ‘old’ part of the Merrion Centre. Images of the site are featured below.

Above and below the site of the new Leeds Arena

Leeds Initiative have stated that the preferred operator will be SMG who currently operate the MEN Arena in Manchester, the Metro Radio Arena, the Journal Tyne Theatre in Newcastle and the Odyssey in Belfast. The site which is an excellent location for proximity to the city centre, will include a 12,500 seat covered entertainment arena, finally putting Leeds on the ‘large scale’ entertainment tour schedule. Rival Northern cities Sheffield, Hull and Manchester already have their own Entertainment Arena’s, and have consistently managed to attract bands to their cities, to the detriment of the Leeds live entertainment scene. This will eclipse the Leeds Academy in terms of size, but hopefully will not have a significant impact on other live entertainment venues within Leeds – just as Oceana unfortunately did on the local nightclub sector when it opened. This must of course be a concern to some smaller venue operators in the city. The choice of location for this site has proved controversial, land adjacent to Elland Road (below) and another near city centre location were both earmarked for the Arena – though the site that the council has chosen is by far the most suitable, and should facilitate the Arena’s success.

The Elland Road site that will now not be used

Unfortunately it isn’t all good news, the announcement was also made last week that the historic Joshua Tetley Brewery is to close in 2011 with the loss of 170 jobs. Tough market conditions have been blamed for the closure. The Brewery land which is geographically close to the Clarence Dock complex as well as Holbeck Urban Village – the cities new ‘creative cluster’ will no doubt be considered as the location for further new mixed usage developments (once the economy has got back to normal), as the city will continue to grow, and along with that the demand for more recreation spaces. Some interesting historic information about the area can be found here.

Naturtainment

Naturtainment is a term for spectacles and phenomena that occur in the natural world, which can engage or captivate an audience. There is often a high degree of novelty in naturtainment, in the sense that what the audience experience is something that they rarely get to witness. Naturtainment is not controlled or managed by man, naturtainment spectacles and phenomena are controlled entirely by events in the natural world, and consequently naturtainment is not a part of the entertainment industry.

However, many naturtainment sites are recognised as being visitor attractions, and subsequently have had educational facilities built, such as visitor centres or observation platforms. The intention of these is usually to help audiences interpret and understand the naturtainment that they are witnessing. Some common examples of naturtainment attractions where interprative educational facilities can often be found include: coastlines; canyons and gorges; caves & caverns; cliffs & crags; forests & woodland; geological / rock formations; glaciers; geothermal; lakes & rivers; mountains & volcanoes; nature reserves; parklands & national parks; and waterfalls.

Safaris are guided naturtainment tours which are most common in large eco-sensitive areas that are largely unspoiled by man, and where natural flora and fauna flourish. Consequently Safaris usually take place in less developed countries (particularly African countries). Safaris often involve an audience of people travelling in vehicle(s) along with experienced guide(s) who are there to share their knowledge of the local environment, particularly its plants and animals. The major attraction of safaris is the ability to witness animals in their own natural environment. Some safaris form the basis of holidays, and can last a number of days. Whilst naturtainment as a phenomenon is not a part of the entertainment industry, it's commodification for the purposes of educating an audience is, and a subsidiary of the edutainment sector.

The video below highlights naturtainment in action.

Events, Products and Entertainment

Events Management, Entertainment Management – they do sound rather alike even though they are different subjects. It would be foolish to deny the fact that there is commonality between both subjects, indeed when looking at events such as a music festival or a football match, the driver behind the event is the entertainment which is on offer. The driver behind entertainment centred events is known as the primary product. A product is ‘anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas’ (Kotler et al, 1999, p.11). The primary product is the main product that is on offer, the majority of entertainment primary products are intangible in that they are not something that can be held, but are more likely to be experiences. There are also secondary and tertiary levels of product. At entertainment centered events, secondary levels of product may include: support acts at music concerts; smaller stages at music festivals; and half time entertainment at football matches. Tertiary products include support facilities and materials such as: seating; toilets; catering facilities; signage; programmes; security; the website and car parking. You will note that tertiary products at entertainment centered events are both tangible and intangible.

Entertainment is the primary product of many kinds of event, although not all events. A wedding is an event but the core product is the ceremony itself, of course weddings may include entertainment products also – typically from DJs (and Dad dancing!).

At entertainment centered events both Events Management and Entertainment Management are concerned with all three levels of product and this is where cross-over between the subjects exists. It would be as foolish for Event Managers not to be concerned with the management of entertainers at events, as it would be for Entertainment Managers not to be concerned with signage and seating for entertainment events. Getting all levels of product to match audience expectations and needs is part of the recipe for a successful entertainment event, after all it is no good having a stage crammed with world-class entertainers, if the audience are not comfortable, or couldn’t find the venue in the first place. The diagram below shows all three levels of product for a football match.

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1999) Principles of marketing. 2nd European Edition. New Jersey, Prentice Hall.

Recreation and Entertainment

The debate as to whether the chicken came before the egg or the egg before the chicken, is one that has been discussed and argued about for years, and in all likelihood will continue to be discussed and argued about for many years to come, there has been a similar debate about entertainment and recreation. Take a minute to consider the word ‘recreation’ think of it as re-creation as in re-making or re-constructing. Recreation is the process by which the mind and / or body can be rejuvinated through participation in pursuits that are considered by the individual as being satisfying or gratifying to self. These activities may include leisure pursuits, sports, hobbies, pastimes, and entertainment. Recreation is often participated in by individuals to rejuviante self outside of work and ‘life’s daily routine’, the benefit of recreational participation is often positive mental and / or physical well being.

The Oxford English (OED) Dictionary online defines recreation as being: ‘refreshment or comfort produced by something affecting the senses or body’, (first used in 1390); ‘comfort or consolation of the mind; that which comforts or consoles’ (first used in 1410); ‘the action of recreating (oneself or another), or fact of being recreated, by some pleasant occupation, pastime or amusement (first used in 1400) and ‘a pleasurable exercise or employment (first used in 1430).

Entertainment did not appear until almost 200 years later in 1610 where it was originally defined as being ‘the action of upholding or maintaining’, in 1612 this became ‘the action of occupying (a person's) attention agreeably’. Despite the fact that these definitions have changed through the centuries, the dates of usage clearly demonstrate that recreation as a recognised concept certainly came before entertainment, at least in the English language.

Entertainment is something that has the primary purpose of engaging or captivating an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion. It is participated in by people in their own time to satisfy a number of needs that are recreational in nature, for example adult entertainment may satisfy sexual urges, edutainment may satisfy the desire to learn, and music may satisfy the need to relax. All forms of entertainment may satisfy the need to alleviate boredom as a ‘time-filler’ which is why the industry as a whole is growing exponentially as the world in which we live becomes increasingley industrialised, with those seeking recreation having increased amounts of both time and disposable income.

The Tourism & Entertainment Industries

Entertainment is the driver of many tourist journeys, however both the tourism and entertainment industries are separate, albeit sharing some commonalities. According to Mathieson and Wall (1982, p.1) tourism is the ‘temporary movement to destinations outside the normal home and workplace, the activities undertaken during the stay and the facilities created to cater for the need of tourists’, therefore the tourism industry includes (amongst other things): travel agents; tour operators; modes of transport; the transport infrastructure; support services; accommodation; and attractions.

Attractions are an extremely important part of the tourism industry and are the driver for much tourism having taken place. According to Swarbrooke (1995, p.3) tourist attractions are ‘the most important component in the tourism system. They are the main motivators for tourist trips and are the core of the tourism product. Without attractions there would be no need for other tourism services. Indeed tourism as such would not exist if it were not for attractions’. A great deal of tourist attractions have strong entertainment connections, being areas that are used primarily for an audience to be engaged or captivated, through sensory stimulation and / or emotion, i.e. entertainment venues. These include sports stadia, theatres, and museums, all of which could be considered to be tourist attractions, indeed a great many (but not all) entertainment venues are tourist attractions.

The entertainment industry is a vast entity featuring numerous categories of entertainment (see post below), which includes much more than merely venue based entertainment, indeed broadcast media, the internet and computer games, are just some aspects of the entertainment industry that do not take place in entertainment venues, and are therefore not a part of the tourism industry. However it cannot be denied that there is a strong relationship between the two industries.

A Typology for the Entertainment Industry

Entertainment is recreational by nature, meaning that it is part of a process undertaken by people who wish to rejuvenate their body and / or mind. Not all recreational activity is entertainment, indeed recreation also encompasses leisure, hobbies, pastimes, and sports. People seeking entertainment form part of a recreational audience who are searching for something that has the primary purpose of engaging or captivating them through sensory stimulation and / or emotion. An audience can be as large as infinite, and as few as one. It is important to remember that entertainment does not have to be jovial, or created with any form of humour or light relief in mind (traditionally referred to as ‘light entertainment’). The Oscar winning movie ‘Schindler’s List’ is both engaging and captivating and certainly stirs emotion in many who watch it, however few people would consider it light relief.

The global entertainment industry is massive with numerous entities that are worth over half a trillion $US annually (Vogel, 2004). These entities fall within a wide variety of sectors. In an attempt to try and categorise all of these sectors, the following entertainment typology is offered:

Adult Entertainment
Broadcast Media
Cinema and film
Computer Gaming
Culturtainment
Dance
Edutainment
Gambling
Massage
Music
Online Entertainment
Published Printed Media
Sellertainment
Spectator Sports
Spirituatainment
Staged Shows
Thrillertainment


A definition for each and some examples now follow:


Adult Entertainment

‘Entertainment that arouses sexual desire by displays of eroticism.’

Prostitution
Peep shows
Striptease
Staged sex shows
Lap dancing
Pole dancing
Erotic massage


Broadcast Media

‘Entertainment that is produced for mass audiences and broadcast / transmitted / distributed from a distant source.’

Television:
Analogue
Digital Cable / Satellite / Freeview / other
Pay per view

Radio:
Analogue
Digital


Cinema and film

‘The entire spectrum of organisations that are concerned with the production, distribution, and showing of big-screen movie entertainment.’

The film / movie making industry
The film / movie distribution industry

Venues:
Multiplexes
Independent and specialist
IMAX
DVDs

Computer Gaming

‘Entertainment that involves the use of any electronically operated system whereby challenges are presented and an input device is used to manipulate images (and usually sounds) produced by a computer or micro-processor on some kind of display’

Console Games e.g. Nintendo Wii, Playstation, X-Box
Online gaming including massively multiplayer online games
Games for personal computers and Apple Macs
Arcade games


Culturtainment

‘Entertainment that involves the celebration or commemoration of the values or beliefs of a particular segment of society.’

Parades
Festivals
Fetes
Galas
Carnivals
Cultural shows and displays such as poetry recitals and bull fights


Dance

‘Entertainment that involves the watching of rhythmic movement (often to music) with pre-determined or improvised steps.’

Live dance shows and displays, includes:
Ballet
Tap
Ballroom
Salsa
Line dancing
Break dancing
Any other kind of dance display.


Edutainment

‘Entertainment that is designed to promote knowledge, awareness and learning.’

Museums
Art galleries
Exhibitions
Zoos
Aquariums
Planetariums
Conferences
Guided tours
Adult education classes
Art and craft demonstrations
Historic re-enactments
Stately homes
Shows and displays with an educational component, such as transport shows e.g. airshows and animal displays e.g. falconry


Gambling

‘Entertainment that centres around risking the loss of money for a possible gain.’

Casinos
Bingo
Race-track
Bookmakers


Massage

'Entertainment where soft body tissues are manipulated for physical or mental rejuvination.'

Includes all types of massage.


Music

‘Entertainment that is predominantly auditory and incorporates instrumental and / or vocal tones that are structured and continuous for a period of time.’

All recorded music:
All music genres whether mainstream ‘popular’, or niche / specialist

All live music:
Concerts
Music ‘festivals’
Orchestras
Brass Bands
Choirs
Karaoke

Also:
Nightclubs
Raves


Online Entertainment

‘Entertainment that is accessed via web browsers or other software on computers or other devices that are connected to the internet. These often take the form of interlinked documents on the world wide web’

Web pages
Social networking
DHTML & ‘Flash’ documents
Podcasts
Online streaming video
Online gaming including massively multiplayer online games
Other downloads


Published Printed Media

‘Entertainment that is typically paper based, involving the use of printed text and graphics’

Books
Newspapers
Magazines
Comics
Journals
Periodicals
Brochures
Leaflets


Sellertainment

‘Entertainment that is designed to sell a product, belief or ideal with the specific intention of increasing take-up amongst the audience.’

Brochures
Themed bars and restaurants
Trade shows such as fashion shows and the motor show
Product demonstrations
Pub quizzes
Sponsored competitions
Political rallies


Spectator Sports

‘Entertainment where an audience watches an activity that involves physical exertion and fair competition.’

Pitch sports
Water sports
Motor sports
Cycling
Equestrian
Court sports
Country pursuits
Track and field
Marathons
Winter sports
Extreme sports


Spirituatainment

‘Entertainment which utilises and / or celebrates the belief that supernatural powers can have a control over destiny and fate.’

Religious festivals
Evangelism
Clairvoyants
Psychics
Palm readers


Staged Shows

‘Entertainment that is predominantly set on (or within) a purpose-built area where a pre-determined story is acted or performed.’

Opera
Theatre
Musicals
Pantomine
Plays
Dance shows
Wrestling entertainment
Stand up comedy
Sketch shows
Magic shows
Puppet shows
Mime
Multi-performance shows


Thrillertainment

‘Entertainment that is intended to thrill, excite, stimulate the senses – and sometimes cause fright.’

Theme parks
Multi-leisure parks
Fairgrounds
Water parks
Circus
Ghost tours / walks / hunts
Murder mysteries


The complexity of the entertainment industry is such that many entertainment entities would fit within one or more of the above categories, for example a television advert could be considered to be both broadcast media and sellertainment, and ballet could be considered to be dance, and a staged show, having elements of music could also partially include it within this category. Therefore it needs to be recognised that this is an industry where few entities are homogenous in nature, and that many can include characteristics from a number of sectors. What is more certain is that mostly anything that has been created with the primary purpose of engaging or captivating an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion should fit into at least one of the above sectors. This is work in progress so I would be happy to hear from anybody that disagrees with this or can think of anything that doesn’t.

The Novelty of Entertainment

Imagine the scene, you look out of your window every day at a particular time, and you see a man walking a dog, the man is average height, average weight, wearing normal clothes, walking unremarkably. His dog is a brown mongrel, about 50 centimetres tall, and 80 centimetres long, it is on a brown leather lead and does not stand out in any way as being different. The sight of the man walking the dog is typical, and to most people in England and in many other parts of the world this would not be considered as being special.

One day you look out of your window at the same time, and you see the same man walking again with the same dog, except this time the dog is not on a lead, instead it walks upright besides the man on it’s two hind legs. You momentarily stop what you are doing and are transfixed by the spectacle of the upright walking dog as you watch it walk with the man into the distance. When somebody else comes into the room you immediately tell her about the dog that is walking into the distance with the man, she looks at you unremarkably and says that she sees this every day outside of her house, and does not seem as excited or enthusiastic about the site as what you do.

This scenario is used to demonstrate the importance of novelty in entertainment. According to the Apple online dictionary (2007) novelty is the quality of being new, original or unusual. When you looked out of the window and saw the dog walking on two hind legs, you saw something new, this captivated you and you were entertained by it. To the other person this was not a novel sight, and therefore not entertaining. In real life there are actually dogs who are trained to walk on their hind legs for entertainment purposes, and to many audiences this is a novel sight.

A great deal of entertainment is novel, sword swallowers and stilt walkers are not every day sites to most people and therefore would prove to be an entertaining spectacle, however to somebody who worked in a circus this may not be the case. Novelty is one measure by which the quality of entertainment may be measured by an audience. The challenge is to present something that the audience will find novel so that they are entertained by it. The now defunct ‘National Centre for Popular Music’ in Sheffield was praised for it’s novel building design, but slated for it’s unremarkable and often ‘boring’ exhibits, this lead to low visitor numbers and eventually the Centre’s closure. The buildings are now used by Sheffield Hallam University’s Students Union, as an entertainment venue and the base of a radio station.

Update 27th March 2008: See this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7310993.stm

Entertainment & Entertainmentnous: Exploring Concepts, to Define an Industry

The word ‘entertainment’ seemingly means different things to different people. All too often definitions of entertainment demonstrate both narrowness and ambiguity which really demonstrate what little understanding there is of the word, some highlighted examples include:

‘An event, performance, or activity designed to give pleasure or relaxation to an audience’ (Wikipedia, 2007).

This definition is both narrow and ambiguous. What is an event? A funeral, a birthday, a lunar eclipse – these are all events, and whilst some may be entertaining, they are not all entertainment. A staged event held for an audience certainly is entertainment. If performance is relating to performance art, then yes this is also entertainment, but activity is far too broad a word to be used in this context. This definition also states that entertainment gives ‘pleasure or relaxation’, which of course it doesn’t always. Pleasure suggests that entertainment makes people happy, and relaxation suggests that entertainment provides relief. A shower after exercise is an activity that gives pleasure, but this is not entertainment. A séance or tarot card reading often fails to give pleasure or relaxation, yet they are used to entertain an audience. Was the audience of television viewers watching BBC3s ‘Kill it, cook it and eat it’ pleasured or relaxed by this performance? Some might have been, but a number certainly were not.

‘An activity that is diverting and that holds the attention’ (Wordnet, 2007).

Wordnet’s definition is far too ambiguous, does entertainment have to involve activity by the person being entertained? Is watching a film at the cinema active or passive on behalf of the entertainee. Going by Wordnet’s definition, making and consuming a Pot Noodle could be entertainment – which it of course isn’t!

‘Something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement’ (Dictionary.com, 2007).

Dictionary.com’s definition is also far too ambiguous, chewing gum gives me pleasure, but it isn’t entertainment. However diversion is a correct choice of word to use in this definition as entertainment is intended to divert or captivate the attention of an audience, but the word amusement is unnecessary, and alludes to entertainment being what is traditionally known as ‘light entertainment’. Amusement may be a by product of an audience being captivated, e.g. a person on stage (an entertainer) addresses an audience by telling a story that has a humorous ending, this invokes laughter in some audience members, therefore they have been amused. However, If that same entertainer had told a story to the audience that did not have a humorous ending, the audience may still have been diverted or captivated, which would also constitute being entertainment. Whilst after dinner speakers often punctuate their stories with anecdotes, they are not always comedians, and many tell serious stories about their experiences to an audience of captivated listeners – which means that they are entertainers.

I would like to offer a definition of entertainment that is all-encompassing, that provides rationale for why something that is entertainment is entertaining. My definition is as follows:

‘Something which has the primary purpose of engaging or captivating an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion’.

In my definition an audience is as many as infinite, or as little as one. This makes the entertainment industry enormous, which covers a huge array of areas. These include entities that have traditionally been considered entertainment such as theatrical stage shows and live music, to things which many might not have always been considered as being within the entertainment industry such as city based observation towers, fairground rides, sculpture / statues, libraries, billboards and massage.

A clear line does need to be drawn however, as not everything that we find entertaining, constitutes being within the entertainment industry, in order to highlight this point I will use the example of train spotters. These are people who have an in-depth interest in railway trains and often gather at stations or by railway lines to watch trains pass by, sometimes recording the numbers on the side of locomotives and carriages. These people find trains very entertaining, but most trains are certainly not created for entertainment - this is down to the primary purpose of what trains are for, which is to transport people or freight from one location to another, rather than engaging or captivating an audience. That said, if a special train such as a vintage steam train was run, whilst it’s primary purpose of transporting people from one place to another cannot be denied, there could also be a secondary purpose of engaging an audience through the site, sounds and smell of the train which would give that type of train the right to claim that it is at least partially an object within the entertainment industry.

This is where my thoughts so far on entertainment as a concept (as well as an industry) have brought me. What I want to find is a word that describes on a sliding scale to what degree an entity falls within the entertainment industry, based upon the purpose of the entity. If the primary purpose of an entity is to engage or captivate an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion then to my mind that entity falls within the entertainment industry. If an entity has been created with another primary purpose, yet a secondary or tertiary purpose of that entity is to engage or captivate an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion it may also be said to be within the entertainment industry – but to a lesser extent. What I want is a term that describes how ‘strong’, ‘powerful’, ‘prevailing’ and ‘central’ engaging or captivating an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion is to an entity. The word I have in mind is somewhat cumbersome, but (for the want of a better one) is entertainmentnous which I will define as being:

‘The degree to which the intended purpose of an entity is to engage or captivate an audience through sensory stimulation and / or emotion’.

I’m not quite sure whether inventing a new word makes me a genius, an egotist, a cheat, or a combination of the above, but indeed I have had to invent a new word, as no word currently exists to describe the quality that I am currently studying.

Considering the above, some examples now follow:
· City based observation towers – many of these have dual functions as being the bases of radio and television transmitters, as was originally the case with the Berlin Radio Tower. However when observation decks are built on these towers for paying visitors to look over miles of cityscape views they become entertainment venues. They stimulate visual senses by providing visitors with a captivating sight to which they would not normally be accustomed – which becomes there primary purpose. Many also provide other audio and visual information (including piped commentary and signage) which puts them partially within the edutainment sector of the entertainment industry. Some provide more thrilling quirks such as glass floors that are designed to stimulate levels of fright and adrenalin amongst visitors by making more apparent the dangers of being at such a height, this puts them partially within the thrillertainment sector of the entertainment industry. It could then be asked that if an observation deck could be a venue within the entertainment industry, why can’t any tall building? The answer to this lies within the primary purpose of the building or venue. An office block that consists solely of offices has been created with the primary purpose of providing industrial space. Whilst the views from offices may be captivating to those within them, an office block is not an entertainment venue as they are not built with the primary purpose of creating sensory stimulation to a captivated audience. If however, an office was converted into an observation point, for an audience of people to experience city views – this would become an entertainment venue. This example highlights the very thin line that exists between what falls within the entertainment industry, and what doesn’t.

· Fairground rides have been created with the primary purpose of providing sensory stimulation to participants in a number of ways, including: visually (views from, or views of); audibly with music and sound effects; and by inducing adrenalin as the participant often experiences thrills associated with fast movement and gravity – this puts them within the thrillertainment sector of the entertainment industry.

· Many sculptures and statues either within art galleries or outside have been created with the primary purpose of captivating an audience, by providing visual sensory stimulation and / or emotion, some may also provide audio stimulation, and physical ‘touchy’ stimulation – others may even provide taste and smell stimulation as could be the case with the chocolate statue of Jesus Christ at Manhattan’s Lab Gallery. This therefore places them within the entertainment industry, but if a statue can constitute being an object of entertainment, can a building? After all many buildings are visually spectacular sites that can captivate audiences. The answer to this question is yes – sometimes. If a building was created with the primary purpose of being visually stimulating to an audience then it is an object of entertainment which should lie within the entertainment industry. If a building was created with it being visually stimulating to an audience in mind, but not as the primary purpose, then it may lie partially within the entertainment industry. Many ancient buildings were not originally created with the primary purpose of being visually stimulating in mind, but have come to be considered objects of entertainment purely because of there uniqueness and novelty value, as is the case with many English castles, which may captivate spectators.

· Libraries exist as information gateways, where books, newspapers, journals, audio visual sources, and ICT facilities are stored for access by visitors. The primary purpose of a library is to provide information. By reading and researching information in a library a visitor is captivated and stimulated visually as well as possibly emotionally, this does constitute being entertainment. Indeed the printed media sector is an established part of the entertainment industry, making libraries entertainment venues.

· Billboards like any form of display art are designed with the primary purpose of triggering an outcome from people who see them. Billboards engage or captivate an audience and are used to gain peoples attention with the intention of generating an emotion within the audience about what it is the billboard is promoting. The emotion may trigger a number of outcomes, including a product being purchased or a political party being voted for. A billboard is an entertainment entity, that lies within the 'sellertainment' sector of the entertainment industry.

· Massage is the practice of applying pressure, motion, or vibration to the soft tissue areas of the body. It exists in a wide range of forms including professionally where a masseuse may massage a client on a massage table, and erotic massage which is designed to induce sexual stimulation (adult entertainment). This constitutes being entertainment as the audience (of one) is captive, and experiences sensory stimulation through touch, which is designed to either relax or stimulate soft tissue areas of the body. In addition to this, therapies including aromas and music are often included in a professional massage treatment to help relax the mind.

This blog entry is made up of a combination of reflections which will contribute towards work in progress, the culmination of which will be a published journal article (that I am currently writing), this is intended to highlight and give a real identity to what the entertainment industry really is. In my research so far I have found that there is no clear consensus as to what constitutes entertainment – and until this can be clarified, it is difficult to give a ‘proper’ identification to the industry. I can also see that the entertainment industry is potentially massive – and extremely complex. It has a large number of ‘grey’ areas that may or may not be entertainment and may also be considered something else besides due to their primary purpose and entertainmentnous. It is my intent to build upon this further with a series of models, including one that uses concentric rings to demonstrate entertainmentnous, and one which uses Venn Diagrams to explore the complexity of the industry – which itself needs breaking down into all of the sub-sectors which make it up. I would be extremely happy to hear your thoughts on this entry (good or bad), as this is an area which really does warrant much further discussion and debate.