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Broadway theatre producers have expanded their reach to Seoul, South Korea and to an audience of young Koreans with money to burn. Even Broadway musical bombs are getting a second life in a city that boasts over 300 theatres, about the same as in New York, according to a recent story in The New York Times.
A Wicked of the East is about to open, with an all-Korean cast that doesn\\'t miss a beat, except for the show stopper song “Defying Gravity,” which is translated in the Korean as “going up and being free.” The U.S. suppliers are in a way defying gravity by putting into permanent planetary orbit their aging hits as well as forgettable but fungible flops. For this feat, they receive 15 percent of the gate plus licensing and consulting fees, never mind the green grease paint.
No wonder impresarios are eyeing China as the next Great White Way. While in Seoul, a theatre goer might even view North Korea from a coveted box seat with thoughts of a future blockbuster: “Mama Mia Meets the Dear Leader.”
Broadway and Hollywood are examples of a seemingly indefatigable money machine known as intellectual property or IP—in these cases U.S., but it can apply to any country. The so-called “core” copyright industries are those that create, produce, distribute or exhibit copyright materials. The sectors include computer software, videogames, books, newspapers, periodicals and journals, motion pictures, recorded music, radio and television broadcasting, and let’s not forget theatrical productions.
Consumers in non-U.S. markets continue to demand products originating from American creativity, and there’s lots of it to go around. Tune in some night to the televised Emmy Awards, the Oscars, the Tony Awards, the Grammy Awards, and all the rest.
Copyright products that are sold abroad may be manufactured in the U.S. or in foreign markets but, in either case, the creative components of those products are nurtured by the protection afforded under U.S. laws. Creative folks from other countries will be attracted to and invest in the U.S. because of these protections and the culture which flourishes in part because of them.
It’s hard to gauge precisely the value of homegrown IP to a particular economy. Critics of the current methodology believe that the U.S. government’s statistics on “exports” of copyright products fail to accurately measure the true value of U.S. copyright works sold abroad, particularly in light of the increasing importance of digital trade in legitimate copyright goods and services around the globe. Efforts have been made to improve copyright product export statistics gathered in government surveys. The U.S. Census Bureau now reports “Estimated Export Revenue for Employer firms,” for a number of the copyright industries including the motion picture industry and the sound recording industry.
But critics point out that the export statistics reported by Census are substantially lower than foreign market sales figures derived from non-government sources. An alternative analysis provides estimates of foreign sales and exports for four selected core copyright industries during the years 2009 through 2012: the sound recording industry, the motion picture industry, the computer software industry, and the non-software publishing industry which includes newspapers, books, and periodicals.
For these years, total foreign sales for the “selected” core copyright industries are:
$129.2 billion in 2009
$133.8 billion in 2010
$140.9 billion in 2011
$142.0 billion in 2012
These figures by the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a policy shop, put these sectors well ahead of aerospace, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals in their contribution to U.S. exports. The total value of IP sectors to the economy is $1 trillion.
The export numbers could be larger if it not for piracy and barriers imposed by foreign governments. France, for example, wants to limit non-French films and TV programs for fear that they will damage French “cultural industries.” China and other countries employ similar restrictions.
This is why bilateral and regional free trade agreements are going beyond tariff reductions to address a whole host of issues, not the least of which is IP protection and market access for services. The ability to work internationally is also key to realizing the full potential of the service industries, which is why easing restrictions on professional services, including stage directors and choreographers, are also part of these trade deals.
No one should be deprived of the opportunity to see Broadway’s duds, or its smash hits—if they can pay for it (photography and sound recording prohibited by law, of course).
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| PBMF10512580M1G1 bearing | 105 | 125 | 80 |
| PBMF10512550M1G1 bearing | 105 | 125 | 50 |