Showbiz Sandbox 79: A New Social Music Chart To Rival Billboard?

November 16, 2010

Media measurement company BigChampagne believes that ranking songs and musicians based on radio airplay and record sales is an antiquated method. Joe Fleischer, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, explains how they’ve added social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Pandora into the mix to create the Ultimate Chart, a new music chart giving industry heavyweights Billboard and Soundscan a run for their money.

Speaking of media metrics, the biggest entertainment launch in history occurred last week and it wasn’t a James Cameron movie. In fact, it wasn’t a movie at all, but a video game. “Call of Duty: Black Ops” earned  a record setting $360 million in its first day alone.

If that’s not strange enough for you, the biggest headlines coming out of the Country Music Awards may not have been from winners Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton or even the red hot Taylor Swift. Instead it was actress Gwyneth Paltrow who performed the title song from her upcoming movie “Country Strong”. Paltrow proved she can really belt out a tune, though whether that helps rehabilitate her career or image remains to be seen.

Read more

Showbiz Sandbox 69: The Emmys Shine In Google TV’s Shadow

August 30, 2010

Host Jimmy Fallon helped pump some energy into this year’s Emmy Awards where a lot of new names and shows walked away with trophies.  Rick Porter, staff editor at Zap2it, provides some details about who won and who lost.  And the Emmy telecast received rave reviews.  One of the shows writers was David Wild, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, and he gives us all the dirt on what went on behind-the-scenes.

In the future, the shows that win Emmys may not air on television, but instead be found online.  Alex Ben Block, a senior editor for the Hollywood Reporter and author of “George Lucas’s Blockbusting” fills us in on how we’ll be watching television in the future. . . that is if Google and Apple have their way.

As always, we review the week’s top entertainment headlines during Big Deal or Big Whoop.  Our Inside Baseball topic focuses on the news that video retailer Blockbuster may soon file for bankruptcy.

Read more