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 229: Making South by Southwest A Family Affair
March 18, 2014
Countless bands long to play at South by Southwest, the music festival that takes place in Austin, Texas every March. The event has grown into an important showcases for undiscovered, unsigned and fast rising artists. The Family Crest, an indie rock band from San Francisco, is one of the buzzworthy acts that played at this year’s SxSW. Liam McCormick, the group’s songwriter and founding member, joins us to discuss what it’s being officially invited to play at such a prestigious festival.
In an in-depth conversation, McCormick walks us through how The Family Crest has managed to follow through on all the necessary achievements modern bands strive for in search of success; they’ve funded two albums via Kickstarter which feature hundreds of musicians, they’re signed to an indie record label and NPR is touting the group’s music, which of course can be easily found on all the popular streaming services. On top of all that, television series and advertising campaigns have begun licensing their music.
Much like The Family Crest, Disney is doing quite well for itself these days, at least when it comes to Broadway. What’s surprising is that it isn’t one of the company’s hot new productions that’s the highest grossing production on the Great White Way, but rather “The Lion King”, which opened 16 years ago. It’s all thanks to the new trend of dynamic ticket pricing. We’ll explain.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why the NFL is suing M.I.A., Amazon prepares to enter the streaming music business, and “Big Bang Theory” gets renewed for three whole seasons.
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Showbiz Sandbox 226: Back To The Future – Why TV Networks Suddenly Love Old People Again
February 24, 2014
Broadcast television networks are finally catching on to what most of us have known all along; people over the age of 50 actually watch a lot of TV. In a never-ending pursuit to attract younger viewers, networks discovered that baby boomers make up a large portion of their audience. Surely we’ll be seeing a lot more programming meant to appeal directly to this new found demographic.
Maybe some of these new, more mature shows can be turned into movies one day. That seems to be the new trend in Hollywood as studios get set to release two movies that are spun-off from canceled series (“Veronica Mars”) or are have actually already appeared on television as mini-series (“Son of God”).
Speaking of Hollywood studios, it turns out that despite crying poor on a perennial basis, they all managed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit during 2013. Not revenue… actual profit.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Cee Lo Green quitting “The Voice”, CNN quitting Piers Morgan and the end of Moviefone’s movie listing service.
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Showbiz Sandbox 199: Comic-Con and Hollywood Is A Match Made In Nerdvana
July 22, 2013
Hollywood movie studios are no stranger to Comic-Con, the world largest pop-culture convention attracting 140,000 fans to San Diego each summer. For years they have showed up with new titles hoping to drum up pre-release buzz, though at times such calculated marketing moves have backfired in spectacular fashion. Even so, Entertainment Weekly’s Geoff Boucher says audiences always welcome Hollywood back to the Con with open arms.
Boucher gives us an inside look at this year’s event, filling us in on which movies, television shows and events were huge hits (or misses) with fans. Did the announcement of a film pairing of Superman and Batman go over well with the crowd? Was everyone surprised to see a trailer for the “Veronica Mars” movie.
Last week also saw the Television Academy announce their nominations for this year’s Emmy Awards. The big news was the Netflix series “House of Cards” which earned 14 nominations and marked the first time a show will vie for an Emmy without having aired on broadcast or cable networks.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a public spat over Spotify streaming royalty rates, Keith Olbermann’s return to ESPN and a summer of big box office flops.
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Showbiz Sandbox 186: Bill Carter of the NY Times on Cable Ratings, Jay Leno and the Shifting Television Landscape
March 18, 2013
Bill Carter of the New York Times has been reporting on the television industry for over 30 years. Who better to ask about why nothing seems to make any sense about this year’s television season? For example, cable shows have been pulling in more viewers than any of the networks. Broadcast networks that were topping the ratings just months ago, are now struggling at the back of the pack. As if that wasn’t enough, it looks as if the battle over late night programming is heating up again.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Carter touches on everything from the reason networks have been cutting back their original programming to why ratings have become so complicated to tabulate (hint: it has to do with DVRs). He explains all the troubles NBC is having not only in primetime, but also with their morning news programming. Carter literally wrote the book on late night television (actually two of them), so his thoughts about which of the ever growing list of hosts is most dominant, and why, is rather insightful.
Meanwhile, the Cannes Film Festival announced the selection of Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” as their opening night film. What stunned many Cannes veterans is that the festival would choose a film which will open theatrically in North America just five days before it premieres on the Croisette this May.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines, including “Django” in China, “Veronica Mars” on Kickstarter and David Bowie’s return to the music sales charts.
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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.
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Showbiz Sandbox 70: Digital or Bust – The Future of Reading
September 6, 2010
It seems a new electronic reading device is released every week. It’s no wonder the sale of e-books has begun to outpace traditional print copies. Ryan Chapman, the online marketing manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, talks about how the industry is dealing with the new technology and in certain instances, using it to their advantage.
Print editions are no longer a problem for Josh Jackson, the editor-in-chief of Paste Magazine. He discusses the recent decision to suspend print publication of the indie pop culture magazine.
In the television world, everyone seems shocked that the latest cast of “Dancing With The Stars” included the likes of Bristol Palin, the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. They must be putting quotation marks around the word “star” in her case. Maybe her participation will cause politicos to rent a few episodes on their new Apple TV.
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