Risky business: The independent production sector in Britain's creative industries¹

Many small business advisers in Britain are understandably reluctant to accept that independent creative and media businesses are different from any other small business. After all, small business start-ups face similar problems (cash-flow, lack of capital investment) and need advice and training on similar issues (financial planning, marketing, basic business skills). Likewise many British entrepreneurs would argue that creativity and risk are not the exclusive preserve of the currently fashionable so-called 'creative' or media industries. So what is especially risky about the business of cultural production? Risk in the creative and media industries stems both from the nature of the product and the nature of creative processes. The British definition of creative industries currently centres on the notion of 'intellectual property' (Smith 1998). According to this definition, record companies, web-site designers, film and television production companies are all in the business of buying and selling ideas and information. Although not made explicit here, it is clear