This paper explores how social capital and property regulations shape cultural producers’ ability to own copyrights for the products they create. Because individual producers lack the resources required to develop and distribute their creations, they partner with large firms who demand the copyrights for products they invest in. I argue two types of social capital—status and partner substitutability—enable producers to own their creations by increasing their bargaining power over the firms they partner with. Moreover, I propose that different types of property regulations condition whether status or partner substitutability have a stronger role in producers’ ownership outcomes. Analyzing all shows made for American television from 1956 to 1996, I show that increases in showrunners’ status and number of broadcasters they collaborated with increased the probability they owned shows they produced. However, the effects of these social capitals were contingent on the property regulations showrunners operated under. These findings advance our understanding of the allocation of copyrights, the power dynamics between creators and firms, and the effects of social capital in cultural industries. They didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people were streaming my work, and they never had to ask me…They stole that from me. They just took it! (Dave Chappelle, The Unforgiven, 2021).

中文翻译：

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社会资本和文化制作者对其创作的版权所有权：来自 1956-1996 年电视行业的证据

本文探讨了社会资本和财产法规如何塑造文化生产者拥有其创造的产品版权的能力。由于个体生产者缺乏开发和分销其创作所需的资源，他们与大公司合作，后者要求其投资的产品拥有版权。我认为，两种类型的社会资本——地位和合作伙伴的可替代性——使生产者能够通过增加自己的创作来拥有自己的创作。他们对合作伙伴的议价能力。此外，我建议不同类型的财产法规决定地位或合作伙伴可替代性是否对生产者的所有权结果发挥更大的作用。通过分析 1956 年至 1996 年为美国电视制作的所有节目，我发现节目主持人的地位和与其合作的广播公司数量的增加增加了他们拥有自己制作的节目的可能性。然而，这些社会资本的影响取决于节目主持人所遵循的财产法规。这些发现增进了我们对版权分配、创作者和公司之间的权力动态以及社会资本在文化产业中的影响的理解。他们不需要付钱给我，因为我签了合同。但这是对的吗？我发现这些人正在直播我的作品，而他们从来不需要问我……他们从我那里偷走了这一点。他们刚刚拿走了它！（戴夫·查佩尔，《不可饶恕者》，2021）。