Study: Entertainment industry growing

A new report commissioned by a tech industry group found that music, books and other types of entertainment are all growing, even though the avenues for their distribution are becoming more diffuse.

The study from the Computer and Communications Industry Association — which represents companies including Google, Pandora and Microsoft, among others — found video game sales rose from $79 billion to $93 billion between 2012 and 2013. Digital music, e-books, and movie and TV are also increasing, thanks in part to their spread on the Internet.

“From any one vantage point — especially that of a media business based on gatekeeping and control — all may indeed appear to be doom and gloom,” the study authors wrote. “But a broader view reveals the broader truth: the sky is definitely rising.” 

The rising trend in entertainment sales makes a business case against lawmakers looking to limit the ways people share media online.

“If the goal of public policy is to continue this trend, we should be generally cautious about making policy that feeds off the false narrative that our culture is at risk — or that the very same innovations that have made this renaissance possible are somehow to blame for a perceived decline in these markets,” it added.

Trade group President Ed Black said that additional insight about the entertainment sector “can only help the ongoing debate as the US considers copyright reform and adds copyright language to trade agreements.”