This is a detailed case history of one of London's iconic new-media companies, AMX Studios. Some of the changes in this firm, we assume, are not atypical for other firms in this sector. In particular we want to draw attention to two transformations. The first change in AMX and in London's new-media industry more generally refers to the field of industrial relations. What can be observed is a shift from a rather heterarchically organised new-media industry towards a more hierarchically organised one, a shift from short-term project networks to long-term client dependency. The second change refers to new-media products and services. We want to argue for a shift from cool content production towards consultancy and interactive communications solutions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BenkertWMichelL, 1999, “Neue Selbständige in der Medienbranche. Ein Modellfall für den Dienstleistungssektor?”, [New self-employers in the media industry. A model for the service sector?]Arbeitsbericht 138, Akademie für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Baden-Württemberg, Industriestraße 5, D-70565 Stuttgart.
2.
BourdieuP, 1993The Field of Cultural Production (Polity Press, Cambridge).
3.
CastellsM, 1989The Informational City (Blackwell, Oxford).
4.
CookePWellsP, 1991, “Uneasy alliance: The spatial development of computing in communications markets”Regional Studies25345–354.
European Commission, DG XIII, 1998, “Multimedia publishing and distribution”Information Engineering, Projects and Perspectives 1994–1998 January, pp 10–29.
7.
GirardMStarkD, 2001, “Distributed intelligence and organization of diversity in new media projects”, International Workshop, Socio-economics of Space, University of Bonn, Bonn, April.
8.
GrabherG, 2001, “Ecologies of creativity: The Village, the Group, and the heterarchic organisation of the British advertising industry”Environment and Planning A33351–374.
9.
GrabherGStarkD, 1997, “Organizing diversity: Evolutionary theory, network analysis and postsocialism”, in Restructuring Networks in Post-socialism: Legacies, Linkages and Localities Eds GrabherGStarkD (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 1–32.
10.
ILO, 1998Multimedia Convergence: Breaking the Silence (International Labour Office, Geneva).
LashSUrryJ, 1994Economies of Signs and Space (Sage, London).
13.
LordR, 1998Campaign 30 October.
14.
LuryCLashS (forthcoming) Global Culture Industry: The Mediation of Things (Polity Press, Cambridge).
15.
McRobbieA, 1999In the Culture Society (Routledge, London).
16.
MengerP-M, 1994, “Appariement, risque et capital humain: L'emploi et la carrière dans les professions artistiques”, in L'Art de la Recherche Eds MengerP-MPasseronJ-C (La Documentation Française, Paris) pp 219–238.
17.
MolotchH, 1996, “L. A. as design product: How art works in a regional economy”, in The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century Eds ScottA JSojaE (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) pp 225–275.
18.
MurphyP, 1999Design Weekly 28 November.
19.
NMC, 1999, “AMX history”, July–September.
20.
PowellW, 1996, “Interorganizational collaboration in the biotechnology industry”Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics120197–215.
21.
PowellWKoputKBowieJ LSmith-Doerr, 2001, “The spatial clustering of science and capital”, International workshop, Socio-economics of Space, University of Bonn, Bonn, April.
22.
St JohnW, 2000, “Brattitude adjustment” Wired 8.09 September, 132–155.
23.
SaxenianA, 1996Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA).
24.
ScottA, 1988Metropolis: From the Division of Labor to Urban Form (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA).
25.
ScottA, 2000The Cultural Economy of Cities (Sage, London).
SojaEMoralesRWolffG, 1983, “Urban restructuring: An analysis of social and spatial change in Los Angeles”Economic Geography59195–230.
28.
StarkD, 1999, “Heterarchy: Distributed authority and organizing of diversity”, in The Biology of Business Ed. ClippingerJ H (Josey-Bass, San Francisco, CA) pp 153–181.
29.
StorperMChristophersonS, 1987, “The city as studio; the world as back lot: The impact of vertical disintegration on the location of the motion picture industry”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space4305–320.
30.
The Economist2000a, “Survey: e-entertainment”, 7 October, pp 1–32.
VermehrenC, 2000The Field of Advertising. A Study in SociologyPhD thesis, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge University, Cambridge..
33.
WaltersH, 2000, “Profile: Heroes of the creative industries. Malcolm Garrett”Creative Review July, 64–66.
34.
WarnkenJ, 1998, “Information Society 2000. The German experience of multimedia convergence”, in Multimedia Convergence: Breaking the Silence (International Labour Office, Geneva).
35.
WatsonK, 1999KLW Communications.
36.
WittelA, 2001, “Towards a network sociality”Theory, Culture, and Society18(6) 51–76.
37.
WittelALuryCLashS, 2002, “Real and virtual connectivity: New media in London”, in Virtual Society? Get Real! Ed. WoolgarS (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 51–76.
