Showbiz Sandbox 379: Springsteen and Swift Beat Scalpers and Fans Pay The Price

September 4, 2017

New technology from Ticketmaster is allowing the likes of Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to combat scalpers and sell tickets to legitimate fans. But at what cost? Swift is asking concert-goers to pay $63 for a physical copy of her latest album to get better seats and the ticket prices for Springsteen’s Broadway residency top out at $850.

Maybe these prices are simply musicians trying to make up for the earnings they’ve lost in record sales over the past 15 years. According to a new report from Goldmany Sachs though, the music industry is poised for explosive, make that historic; no, make that unbelievable growth. And we don’t believe it.

Meanwhile, as the summer moviegoing season in North America end in a thud with box office plummeting to record lows, bring the shares of major movie theater chains down with them. But are ticket sales the real reason behind the stock sell off.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Facebook is taking on YouTube with video content, “The Simpsons” lay off their beloved composer after nearly 30 years and a study says millennials are fleeing terrestrial radio.

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Showbiz Sandbox 350: Hollywood Has Faith in Religious Marketing

January 9, 2017

Organized religion and the film industry have traditionally not played nicely with one another. Recently however, movie studios have been courting Christian filmgoers, in hopes of increasing audiences for certain titles. Brooks Barnes, a staff reporter for the New York Times, joins us to discuss one of Hollywood’s latest marketing trends.

The Writers Guild and the National Society Of Film Critics have both weighed in with end of the year honors. But will any of their choices matter come Oscar time?

The same question could be asked about the Golden Globes which were held last weekend. “La La Land” and “Moonlight” walked away with the top prizes as they continue to march through awards season as this year’s front runners for a Best Picture Academy Award.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Kodak is bringing back celluloid (sort of), how talk show host Conan O’Brien is going viral and Norway ditches FM radio.

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Showbiz Sandbox 264: Globes Have Golden Opportunity To Expand Awards Season

January 12, 2015

Not even two weeks into 2015 and the annual slog known as awards season has commenced in earnest. This year’s festivities were kicked off by the Golden Globe Awards over the weekend which pull double duty by honoring the best of both movies and television. We wonder if it might make more sense to hold two different ceremonies throughout the year; one for movies and one for television.

The BAFTA nominations were also announced last year, though there was very little British about them, as has traditionally been the case. Guild nominations have also started pouring in as well, though what everyone wants to know is how all of this will affect the upcoming Oscar race.

Meanwhile, some established artists in the movie and music industries have started to offer their latest work directly to fans. By some accounts these experiments have proven incredibly successful and profitable, or so it would seem. Unfortunately, there’s no real way to tell since sales figures for such efforts are often hard to come by.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including John Travolta’s return to television, why actress Charlize Theron requested a pay raise on her next film and an update on the Sony cyber attack.

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Showbiz Sandbox 125: Are Radio D.J.’s A Thing Of The Past?

November 7, 2011

Radio listenership has eroded over the past several years as consumers have adopted streaming music services such as Spotify and Pandora.  To stay competitive and survive, Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station operator, shocked the industry this past week by firing dozens of local D.J.’s and replacing them with a national programming team.  Indie-label artists and music fans are sure to suffer as radio playlists become more homogenized and less relevant.

Google has no plans to get into radio, however rumors have surfaced that they might be trying to add a cable television operation to their broadband project in Kansas.  Launching and maintaining a cable television service is not exactly like running a search engine; it can be expensive, take years and ultimately lead to a lot of red ink.

Comedian Louis C.K. has shunned traditional cable altogether.  He’s decided to broadcast his upcoming comedy concert directly to fans via the Internet, bypassing traditional television distribution.

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