Showbiz Sandbox 391: For Your Consideration – Grammy Marketing Campaigns

December 4, 2017

Hip-hop artists lead the nominees for this year’s Grammy Awards with Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar the front runners for Album Of The Year. Steve Knopper, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and author of several books about the music industry, joins us to explain how musicians have taken a lesson from Hollywood and begun mounting marketing campaigns to snag music’s highest honor.

Accolades for the year’s best movies have also begun to be doled out with critics groups announcing their picks. “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Florida Project,” and “Lady Bird” seem to be the big favorites as we head into awards season.

Meanwhile, allegations of sexual misconduct continue to pile up against entertainment and media personalities. Just when we thought it couldn’t get much worse, “Today” anchor Matt Lauer was fired by NBC News over sexual harassment and famed Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine was suspended over accusations of sexual abuse.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Stephen Colbert continues to win the late night wars, director Bryan Singer disappears from the set of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and why Disney is suing Redbox.

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Showbiz Sandbox 201: Why CBS Is Winning The Battle (And The War) Over Cable Television

August 12, 2013

For the past two weeks Time Warner Cable has been blacking out CBS networks in New York, Los Angeles and other major markets over a retransmission dispute. Despite losing more than 3 million households ratings on CBS have remained steady giving the network no reason to back down from its demands. With the new television and football seasons set to begin in September Time Warner Cable may have no choice but to cave in to CBS’ terms.

Meanwhile, this summer’s blockbuster movies continue to underperform at the box office with Disney announcing they may have to take a $190 million write down on losses from “The Lone Ranger”. Actor Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have figured out who to blame for the movie’s failure; vengeful American film critics.

After being publicly trashed by George Clooney, activist investor Daniel Loeb was unable to convince Sony to spin-off its entertainment divisions. Even so, Loeb says he’s pleased since the company’s stock price is up and its management more accountable to shareholders.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a lost film from Orson Welles, a new ending for the “Finding Nemo” sequel and the surprising new owner of The Washington Post.

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