American business: entertainment.

After starting in 1979 with a single retail outlet in Los Angeles, the video rental industry boomed during the 1980’s and became a fixture in consumers’ spending during the 1990’s, grossing an average of $1 billion yearly.

From the beginning, narrative fiction television tended to portray and reinforce the division between the private domestic sphere and the public workplace.

During its relatively brief history, the television broadcasting industry has grown from a few experimental networks to become one of the most profitable industries in the United States...

Martha Stewart successfully transformed her interests in cooking, home decorating, gardening, and entertaining into a multimillion dollar business.

Radio broadcasts at once drew audiences to advertising and revolutionized entertainment in American households.

The music industry has brought listeners numerous types of music in various, changing formats.

The motion-picture industry, part of the greater entertainment industry, employs vast numbers of people in the creation and distribution of its products.

The mainstream American novel has evolved as a fundamentally individualcentered form of representation.

Films treating economic subjects tend to reflect popular American attitudes toward business during the periods in which they are made.

Disneyland set a new standard for theme parks, combining rides and other attractions with famous Disney characters and themes to create a magical, otherworldly setting for family entertainment.

A commercial artist and cartoonist, Disney founded the Walt Disney Company, which would become one of the most influential media and entertainment corporations in the world.

ASCAP was the first American performance rights organization, tracking the performance of its members’ compositions and collecting licensing fees on their behalf.