Showbiz Sandbox 546: The Best Music You’ve Never Heard — 100 Flop Albums

June 22, 2021

Musician Sal Maida and music writer Mitchell Cohen have been thumbing through record store bins for decades looking for great albums. Now they’ve teamed up to write “The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Oughta Know,” a book that dives deep into great music which doesn’t make the usual “best of” lists but is definitely worth a listen. Plus, they recruited a lot of their friends like Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Holsapple and Jim Farber.

Kevin Feige may be in charge of Marvel Studios but is a little puzzled too about how to add up streaming numbers. He mentioned that since Nielsen doesn’t publish streaming viewership he doesn’t know how to tell if “WandaVision” or “Loki” are hits. Could this be true? We find it a bit unlikely that Disney is hiding such data from Marvel.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including Amazon Studios plans for diversity, Roku claims the Quibi shorts are actually popular after all and the “Book of Mormon” musical may get a rewrite when it reopens.

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Showbiz Sandbox 492: Hollywood Players Battling Pandemic… And Each Other

May 5, 2020

Even when times are good and profits are up, some of Hollywood’s biggest stakeholders don’t always get along. For over a year now the Writers Guild of America has been duking it out over television packaging fees with the Association of Talent Agencies, suing three of its largest members; United Talent Agency, William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists Agency. Entertainment attorney and Hollywood Reporter contributing editor Jonathan Handel fills us in on the latest court rulings in the dispute and why things aren’t looking good for the WGA.

Meanwhile, cinema operators were already upset with Universal Pictures for releasing “Trolls World Tour” via premium video on demand, skipping a theatrical release due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now the studio announced plans to release its future movies on PVOD at the same time as they hit theaters, causing a few chains to boycott Universal’s titles. Film distribution veteran Jim Amos of Scout 53 breaks down the argument for us and tells us how he thinks it will be resolved.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including new rules for the Oscars, global music industry revenue continues to grow (for now) and without sports to broadcast should ESPN still be charging cable subscribers?

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Showbiz Sandbox 490: The Future of Journalism After the Coronavirus

April 21, 2020

Long before the coronavirus pandemic, independent journalism was on life support, especially at the local level. After businesses around the world shut down advertising revenue at media outlets completely disappeared and may never fully return. This is especially true at newspapers and industry trade publications, which have begun cutting staff.

In a wide-ranging interview, Kelly McBride, a senior vice president at the Poynter Institute gives us her take on what journalism will look like after the pandemic. She also discusses her new role as the public editor of National Public Radio, as well as her work advising the Hollywood Reporter.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including when we all might be able to attend a live event again, the latest on the Writers Guild contract negotiations and Netflix hits a new high.

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Showbiz Sandbox 404: Faith-Based Films Are Competing For the Choir’s Attention

March 19, 2018

It used to be that to promote a faith-based film release, especially one geared toward Christian audiences, all a distributor had to do was screen the film for church groups or pastors, and maybe create some study material. But once studios saw there was money in faith-based movies, they began making more of them. As Ryan Faughnder, a film business reporter for the Los Angeles Times, explains, promoting such titles in a crowded market has become a lot more difficult.

In China, regulators are cracking down on marketing agencies that use hundreds or thousands of fake accounts to promote (or bash) products, movies, personalities… almost anything really. Known as the “internet water army” or “cyber navy,” they have made it hard to gauge the public’s true sentiment about a movie, actor, etc. via social media.

MoviePass meanwhile continues to make headlines, though this time it’s for something they’re not doing. Despite claiming two weeks ago that their mobile app tracks subscriber’s every move, it turns out MoviePass doesn’t really do that and the company had to apologize

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why YouTube is teaming up with Wikipedia, IHeatMedia files for bankruptcy and Netflix looks to get into the news game.

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Showbiz Sandbox 232: Coachella Goes Over The Top, Figuratively and Literally

April 14, 2014

In its 15 year history the Coachella has grown from a two day event with a couple dozen bands to one of the world’s most important music festivals with so many VIP luxury amenities that some have argued the high-priced perks have begun overshadowing the actual music. At the same time, Coachella organizers have made it easier than ever for stay-at-home-fans to catch their favorite artists by streaming the whole first weekend live on YouTube.

Speaking of VIP entertainment experiences, there is a brewing battle over premium large format screens at multiplexes all over the world. You might know these types of auditoriums as IMAX, though not for long if your local cinema chain has anything to say about it.

Since it’s tax time here in the United States we uncover a few stories about how movie, television and theatre productions are not only skipping out on their taxes, but in fact getting huge subsidies courtesy of the tax man in most states.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Stephen Colbert’s move to replace David Letterman, the motion picture Academy’s new high profile curator and James Cameron’s complaints about the latest blockbuster movies.

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Showbiz Sandbox 227: The Oscars Attract Big Business, Big Ratings and Big Money

March 4, 2014

If you weren’t surprised by any of the winners at this year’s Oscar ceremony, you may have Oscar prognosticators like Anne Thompson to blame. Indiewire’s editor-at-large was at the big show and joins us to discuss the telecast, the show, and all the money and effort poured into the annual awards season. Thompson also fills us in on her new book “The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System“.

The business side of the film industry isn’t the only aspect of movies that is evolving. The sound accompanying new releases is getting a few enhancements thanks to immersive 3D audio. This has created an industry battle over audio formats.

Speaking of disputes, 19 Recordings, the music label responsible for “American Idol”, is once again suing their partner Sony. This time the argument is over the issue of whether digital tracks are sold or licensed to buyers. There is a huge difference in the royalty paid for each.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Tyler Perry leaves Lionsgate, Paramount is bullied into changing the marketing for “Noah” and Dreamworks Animation takes a write-down on “Turbo”.

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