Showbiz Sandbox 611: This Year’s Oscars Were Everything Everyone Could Have Asked For
March 15, 2023
As everyone expected, the big winner at this year’s Oscars was “Everyone Everywhere All At Once,” taking home seven of the 11 awards it was nominated for. Anne Thompson of Indiewire was at the ceremony and joins us to give us the scoop on what happened behind the scenes at this year’s Academy Awards, including two extended moments of “integrated marketing.”
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom the BBC stirred up some controversy when they suspended popular sports commentator Gary Lineker for expressing political opinions via his personal social media account. The fallout has been epic, with essentially every sports broadcaster, commentator and soccer player boycotting the BBC.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including two new milestones in the music industry, J.J. Abrams gets into live theater and Disney says its theme parks are too expensive.
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Showbiz Sandbox 595: Vinyl Sales and Payola on the Rise in Music Industry
September 28, 2022
With mid-year music revenue figures finally tallied it appears the growth of streaming music has begun to slow as vinyl sales has increase. Also on the rise are reports of payola as indie music artists can’t seem to get played on the radio without paying promoters for the privilege of being put in rotation. These promoters are using a loophole in the law which prevents record labels from paying radio stations in exchange for airplay.
Another loophole allows radio stations in the United States to avoid paying musical performers and creators when their song is actually played. The American Music Fairness Act looks to change that which will have a big impact on terrestrial radio.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how James Earl Jones will continue to provide the voice of Darth Vader thanks to artificial intelligence, Spotify gets into Audiobooks and Rihanna heads to the Super Bowl for the halftime show.
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Showbiz Sandbox 531: Uncovering A Diverse Set of Problems at the Golden Globes
March 2, 2021
A week before the Golden Globes, Stacy Perman and Josh Rottenberg of the Los Angeles Times wrote investigative pieces detailing conflicts of interest and a lack of diversity within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; the tight knit and tight-lipped group of 87 international journalists who nominate and choose the winners each year. Perman joins us to discuss her work on the story, which was picked up by every major media outlet, and the immediate impact it had on this year’s Globe’s ceremony. Whether it will be enough to change the behavior and makeup of the HFPA remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Viacom announced a slate of programming for their new streaming service, Paramount+. Along with 2,500 movies, 30,000 episodes of television and live sporting events, the company will be rebooting hit series such as “Fraiser” with their original cast. The company also revealed that blockbuster films such as “Mission:Impossible 7” and “A Quiet Place II” will debut on Paramount+ just 45 days after their theatrical release.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s Art Directors Guild Award nominees, why kill fees might be coming to international film sales and recorded music grosses passed $12 billion in North America during 2020.
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Showbiz Sandbox 441: Music Industry Gets Into The Stream of Things
March 18, 2019
In February the RIAA reported that music sales in the United States reached $9.8 billion in 2018, up nearly 12% over the previous year. Total worldwide sales were up over 13% reaching $18.9 billion. What’s remarkable is of that figure $9.6 billion, or 51%, came from streaming revenue, the first time that figure has outpaced digital and physical sales.
While some might see this as just a bunch of numbers and sales figures, labels and artists are beginning to see more revenue from streaming. In fact, musicians selling directly to fans grew 35% last year, topping out at $643 million, none of which went to record labels or middlemen.
Meanwhile, “Captain Marvel” continues to top the box office and looks to be headed toward $1 billion with the release of “Avengers: End Game” just a month or so behind. In China, the Oscar winning “Green Book” is doing surprisingly well.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the head of Warner Bros. resigns amid a sexual misconduct scandal, Netflix cancels “One Day At A Time” and MySpace loses it’s music (or at least some of it) .
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Showbiz Sandbox 426: China Gets A Tighter Grip On Its Entertainment Industry
October 8, 2018
When movie star Fan Bingbing went missing in June there was little doubt that the Chinese government had her in custody for tax evasion. Confirmation came this week when the actress resurfaced, apologizing to the country and begging for “everyone’s forgiveness!”. Chinese authorities have announced Fan will pay at least $70 million in back taxes or face criminal prosecution.
The episode has shined a spotlight on the use of what are known in China as “yin-yang contracts,” wherein two different contracts for different amounts are used; one with the full value of the contract and one with a lower value used with tax agencies. Now that the government seems to have taken notice, the Chinese film and television industry has come to a standstill as everyone restructures their deals to comply with the country’s tax laws.
Speaking of China, Hollywood’s share of the country’s box office for the year is off by roughly $500 million and we wonder why. Back in North America, September grosses nearly set an all time record and October is off to a great start.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Apple is stumbling its way into original TV programming, the RIAA diversifies and Bill Cosby heads to jail.
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Showbiz Sandbox 425: Ticketmaster Gets Caught Abusing Its Market Domination
September 24, 2018
When Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged eight years ago it was openly feared that the combined companies would run roughshod over the industry and consumers alike. While there has been speculation about some of the shenanigans Ticketmaster has been up to since then, we now have conclusive proof that the ticketing juggernaut is manipulating the market and working with resellers in the secondary market in order to collect additional fees. They’ve even developed a software tool for just such a purpose.
The United States Senate, meanwhile, passed the Music Modernization Act. It creates a blanket mechanical license which allows for songwriters and artists receive royalties for streaming. It also fixes the problem of receiving royalties for works created before 1972 and includes producers in the new scheme. We’ll take a look a the new bill and explain what it all means.
Speaking of music, a new report indicates that industry revenue in North America is up slightly during the first half of 2018, just as Spotify makes it even easier for independent artists to post their music directly to the streaming service. Does that make Spotify a record label?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Kelly Clarkson gets a new daytime talk show, Comcast beats Disney in an auction for Sky in the United Kingdom and singer Sam Smith loses his voice just before going on stage.
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Showbiz Sandbox 405: Hollywood Adopts A Queer Gaze as LGBTQ Films Go Mainstream
March 26, 2018
Hollywood studios are no strangers to coming-of-age romantic comedies (see any John Hughes film), but never before has a mainstream film centered around a gay teenager. Even so, Twentieth Century Fox didn’t cover up the subject matter of “Love, Simon” and instead used it in their marketing campaign.
What’s more, such films are now being made by members of the LGBTQ community lending them a sense of credibility through what Los Angeles Times film reporter Tre’vell Anderson calls the “queer gaze”. Anderson joins us to discuss the present state of queer films and the future of a genre that is becoming more prominent.
Meanwhile the music industry has something to celebrate as 2017 marked the second year in a row with double digit revenue growth. Streaming services accounted for more than half the year’s total earnings, which are finally back at 2008 levels.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some of the changes taking place at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bruce Springsteen extends his stay on Broadway and online piracy continues to grow.
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Showbiz Sandbox 399: Why Can’t Hulu and Spotify Turn A Profit?
February 12, 2018
As consumers abandon physical media like compact discs and DVDs they are signing up for streaming services like Hulu and Spotify by the tens of millions. Even so, profitability has proven elusive for such companies. We’ll try and understand why, despite all their earnings and tons of headlines, such services continue to be in the red.
Meanwhile the movie awards season has reached a fever pitch, with the Writers Guild handing out their top awards to “Call Me By Your Name” and “Get Out.” Could the horror flick be gaining momentum in the Oscar race just like “Moonlight” did last year?
The Grammys may be over but Michael Giltz just finished his list of the best albums of 2017. Oce you move beyond the big prize for Album Of The Year, his picks have a lot in common with the winners at this year’s ceremony.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why Russia has launched a smear campaign against an Oscar nominated documentary, a hiccup in the sale of The Weinstein Company and a respected television executive gets picked to head up Amazon Studios.
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Showbiz Sandbox 398: Streaming Services Crowd The Field During Super Bowl
February 5, 2018
The ratings for this year’s Super Bowl may have declined 7% and we might know why. After all, there were ads for Hulu, Netflix movies like “The Cloverfield Paradox,” Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan series and even a few movies that might appear in theatres later this year. Oh, there was also a pretty good football game that came down to the last play.
The big game usually puts a damper on the box office in North America, but it certainly doesn’t help when new releases can’t hold their own against titles that opened in December. Even so, international grosses are where all the action is these days and over the past week a Bollywood title managed to beat out the latest “Maze Runner” installment in China. We’ll explain why.
Meanwhile, the Oscar race is coming into sharper focus now that the Director’s Guild has handed out their top awards to “The Shape of Water” and “Get Out”. It’s important to remember however, that the preferential ballot has managed to upend the Best Picture category recently.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why there is a petition for RIAA president Neil Portnow to resign, compact discs are slowly disappearing from retail outlets and Netflix may team up with Luc Besson.
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Showbiz Sandbox 378: ESPN Goes Looking For Some Fights
August 28, 2017
In the midst of a blockbuster boxing match viewed around the world between welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA champion Conor McGregor, ESPN announces they spent a small fortune to secure the worldwide rights to future bouts. The network plans on providing access to the fights on their recently announced streaming service, with ESPN even getting a potential piece of any fights that go the pay-per-view route.
The Mayweather vs. McGregor match was faulted for causing the North American box office to dip to it’s lowest level in 16 years this past weekend. In fact, box office receipts which will not surpass $4 billion for the first time since 2006 thanks to an attendance decrease of 25%. Maybe MoviePass, a subscription moviegoing service, will help fill cinemas now that they’ve lowered their price to $10 per month.
Meanwhile “Handbook for Mortals” took the young adult book genre by storm over the last week, and not in a good way. The debut novel topped the New York Times bestseller list for that genre its first week out without anyone ever having heard of the book or its unknown author. Controversy ensued.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why the issue of on-set safety has gotten a lot of attention after Tom Cruise got injured making the next Mission: Impossible movie, the big editorial changes at the Los Angeles Times and how “The Walking Dead” has inspired another lawsuit.
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