News Summary: UK Comics Market Grows 14%; Survey Shows Creators Struggle Despite Industry Boom

I always enjoy reporting on comics and graphic novels. This is a huge part of our ecosystem, and one where indies can flourish, yet one that rarely gets the coverage it deserves. A new report on the industry has some very interesting findings. It suggests this is a market that is at once booming among readers (the market grew 14 percent in 2025) and driving creators to the edge.
The post News Summary: UK Comics Market Grows 14%; Survey Shows Creators Struggle Despite Industry Boom appeared first on The Self-Publishing Advice Center.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/uk-comics-market-grows/

#AIthreat #commissionwork #creativeeconomy #creatorincome #graphicnovels

From Bedroom Studio to Global Screens: How SPeeKa Turned Soweto Hip-Hop into a Creative Economy

https://sowetoapparel.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/from-bedroom-studio-to-global-screens-how-speeka-turned-soweto-hip-hop-into-a-creative-economy/

They can't suppress us. They can't out passion us. So they're trying to gaslight consumers into believing that AI is a better option for creatives. But anyone who has interacted with a creative knows that is bs. Heck, AI can't even handle coding.

So what I'm trying to say is that as much as big tech is trying to push passion out of the creative arts, the creative arts will never leave the passion.

#CreativeEconomy #CreativeArts #NoAI #PassionNotNumbers

So I was about to start cooking when I had a thought. The push for generative AI (shortened to AI) in the creative industry doesn't come from a point of efficiency, but rather a point of disdain.

As someone who is trying to turn his creative endeavors (writing, music, animation, game dev) into a financially viable business, I realized very quickly that passion puts people off. If you want to get people with money to invest, the numbers need to make sense.
#AI #AIinCreativeWork #CreativeEconomy

Dharma Consolidates Talent Arm, Rebrands as DCAA

Dharma Productions now fully owns its talent agency, Dharma Cornerstone Agency, renaming it DCAA. This affects artists like Janhvi Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur.

#DharmaAgency, #DCAA, #TalentManagement, #BollywoodStars, #CreativeEconomy

https://newsletter.tf/dharma-productions-fully-acquires-talent-agency-dcaa/

Dharma Productions has taken full ownership of its talent agency, previously a joint venture. The agency is now called Dharma Collab Artists Agency (DCAA).

#DharmaAgency, #DCAA, #TalentManagement, #BollywoodStars, #CreativeEconomy
https://newsletter.tf/dharma-productions-fully-acquires-talent-agency-dcaa/

There was a story told about the internet and music: the old industry was gatekept and extractive, pirates were everywhere, stealing your revenue. Streaming would protect your work, democratise distribution and let artists connect directly with audiences. It was a persuasive story. It also turned out to be considerably more useful to the platforms than to the artists.

What actually happened was that the infrastructure of music distribution was rebuilt around a different extraction model — one that kept artists as necessary inputs while moving the profits elsewhere. And it's still owned by gatekeepers pirates… they've just gone legit…

I've been thinking about this for the better part of a decade, which is part of what led me to co-found The Pack. Not because nostalgia is a viable strategy, but because I think the original premise — that artists deserve to own their distribution infrastructure and not be owned by labels and billionaire tech bros - was right and remains achievable. We're crowdfunding to do it. Can you help?

https://crowdfunding.startsomegood.com/thepackmusiccoop #CreativeEconomy #FairWork #CooperativeValues #MusicIndustry