Showbiz Sandbox 134: Video-On-Demand Rides To The Rescue At Sundance

January 30, 2012

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This year’s Sundance Film Festival came to a close last weekend awarding top prizes to a wide range of movies. Independent film industry veteran Michael Tuckman sizes up this year’s festival and highlights some of its most noteworthy movies. Tuckman explains how video-on-demand has become a big part of the distribution strategy for such films, providing them with a wider audience than traditional art houses.

IFPI also showed up with some good news last week reporting that global digital music sales were up eight percent in 2011. Subscription services such as Pandora and Spotify are helping increase revenue, though they are also eating into the advertising dollars usually reserved for local radio stations.

Meanwhile, Broadway is gearing up for its spring season with a glut of hot new productions, making it difficult to pick a front-runner for Best Musical (the most valuable – if not the only valuable – Tony Award). Best Play is also up for grabs and none of the newcomers are slam dunks.

We also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including, Simon Cowell retooling the “X-Factor” with new hosts and judges, an upbeat earnings report from Netflix and how Ticketmaster bungled the sale of tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s latest tour… again.

Mtuckman Media
http://mtuckmanmedia.com/

The Deals of Sundance Film Festival 2012: Who Got What
http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-deals-of-sundance-film-festival-2012-who-got-what

Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
http://www.indiewire.com/article/2012-sundance-film-festival-award-winners-in-progress

SAG, DGA Results Split Between ‘Artist’ And ‘The Help’ Adding Intrigue To Oscar Race
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/sag-dga-results-split-between-artist-and-the-help-adding-intrigue-to-oscar-race-hammond/

Global Digital Music Sales Up 8% In 2011 To $5.2 Billion
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/01/global-digital-music-sales-up-8-in-2011-to-52-billion.html

Spotify Hits 3 Million Paid Subscribers, 20% Conversion Rate
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/01/spotify-hits-3-million-paid-subscribers-20-conversion-rate.html

Streaming Music Has A Problem—It’s a Huge Success
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/streaming-music-has-problem-its-huge-success-137381

‘Book of Mormon’ Principal Cast Extends Contract Through February 2013
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/01/23/book-of-mormon-principal-cast-extends-contract-through-february-2013/

Bruce Springsteen Fans Deal With Ticketmaster Glitches
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-fans-deal-with-ticketmaster-glitches-20120127

Definitely Not Dynamic: Ticketmaster ‘Assaulted’ By Scalpers On Springsteen Sale
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120128ticketmaster

Sequel To Oscar Nominated Animated Hit Rio In The Works
http://www.hitfix.com/articles/sequel-to-oscar-nominated-animated-hit-rio-in-the-works

Jay Leno Angers Members Of Sikh Community With Mitt Romney Joke
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/01/jay-leno-sikhs-mitt-romney-joke.html

Spotify Is Looking For More Financing
http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120128spotify

Netflix Growing Again, Barely Beating Fourth Quarter Expectations
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/01/netflix-growing-again-barely-beating-fourth-quarter-expectations.html

Netflix: No Plans For Games, But 3-D Streaming Possible
http://gigaom.com/video/netflix-video-games-3d/

Netflix Deal With Warner Bros. Includes Delay In Queues
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/01/warner-bros-netflix-deal-includes-delay-in-queues.html

YouTube Hits 4 Billion Daily Video Views
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-google-youtube-idUSTRE80M0TS20120123

X-Factor For DJs: Simon Cowell’s New Global TV Show Revealed
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storycode=1048257

Host And Judges Won’t Return To ‘The X Factor’
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/host-and-judge-wont-return-to-the-x-factor/

Paula Abdul Won’t Return To ‘The X Factor’ In Big Season 2 Shakeup By Simon Cowell
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/paula-abdul-wont-return-to-x-factor/

Adele’s ‘Fire’ Burns Path To Hot 100 Summit
http://www.billboard.com/#/news/adele-s-fire-burns-path-to-hot-100-summit-1005979752.story

HMH In Deal With Amazon For Adult Titles
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50345-hmh-in-deal-with-amazon-for-adult-titles.html

The Sky Is Rising: The Entertainment Industry Is Large & Growing… Not Shrinking
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120129/17272817580/sky-is-rising-entertainment-industry-is-large-growing-not-shrinking.shtml

The Disquieting Dotcom Case
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10781891

Megaupload Data Could Be Deleted This Week
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10782188

State Of The Movie Industry Infographic
http://www.gainfullyidle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/State_of_the_Movie_Industry_Infographic.png

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