Stories

The Rise And Fall Of Columbia House And Its Odd Business Model (Eight Records For A Penny!)

“It was an innovation with a carrot and a stick for the artists who benefited from the extra exposure. ... But the offering also came with a carrot for consumers … and the corresponding stick was particularly ugly.” - Tedium

Study: To Get Employees to Use a Benefit, Make Signing Up a Little Harder

In some cases, you need to make it (ever-so-slightly) harder for people to sign up for the program to help them feel like it’s worth the effort, suggests research forthcoming in Management Science. - Harvard Business Review

Where’s The Evidence That Colleges Are Committed To Teaching Writing?

AI has both clarified what we should be doing when we teach writing and made it much harder to teach writing than in the days prior to the technology’s existence. - InsideHigherEd

Dudamel Says Goodbye With Four-Night Hollywood Bowl Extravaganza

In many ways, YOLA was the glory of the “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!” Bowl program 17 years ago, and it proved even more so for the goodbye Gustavo, or more accurately “hasta pronto,” see you soon. - Los Angeles Times

What It’s Like To Go Through One Of Burning Man’s Dust Storms

“The next big gust tore the tarp from our shade structure. I scrambled to secure the flapping tent walls, using water jugs and costume bags as weight. Above the screaming wind, I heard poles clanging as neighboring camps were blown to smithereens. Then, in a lull, I heard a faint voice. ‘Help!’” - The Guardian

Raygun, The World’s Most Infamous Breakdancer, Is Ready To Talk (After Plenty Of Therapy)

Rachael Gunn, the middle-aged Australian breaker who went viral worldwide after coming dead last in the 2024 Olympics: “It’s part of society now, if you end up online, people are going to rubbish you, but maybe we need to reframe it as a badge of honor that you’ve actually done something interesting.” - CNN (MSN)

Artistic Excellence Is No Guarantee Of Stable Orchestras

Cultural significance and institutional stability are not the same. Even the most renowned orchestras depend on funding, infrastructure, audiences and collective bargaining agreements. When they lose elements of this institutional backbone, it can imperil even the strongest orchestra. - Washington Post (MSN)

Numbers: The Percentage Of Australians Who Engage In Culture

The figures are growing. Live performance attendance has increased by 1.2 million since 2022, to the highest figures ever. Around three quarters of those surveyed had attended a live performance or festival in 2025. - ArtsHub

State Department’s Removal Of Painting Is Another Attack On Artists

By choosing Kehinde Wiley as the opening act in what may be a systematic effort to deaccession art from official government collections, the administration has chosen an artist whose work has become formulaic and clichéd, who has made comments that can easily be parodied as reverse racism. - Washington Post (MSN)

Invoking Dolly Parton, Federal Judge Overturns Texas Law Banning Drag Shows

The law, Texas Senate Bill 12, would fine business owners up to $10,000 for hosting “sexually oriented performances”; performers would face up to a year in prison. The judge reaffirmed his ruling from three years ago that the law was an overly vague infringement on free speech. - The Texas Tribune

“Odyssey” Earns Highest Box Office Of Any R-Rated Movie Ever

“The Odyssey,” an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem from Christopher Nolan, has surpassed “Deadpool & Wolverine” to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. - Washington Post

Travel Guru Rick Steves Buys His Local Theatre

The effort secures the future of the more than 100-year-old facility and is just another investment by Steves in the local community over the past year. - KING 5

Cyber Attack On Australian Book Distributor

A cyber attack on one of the country's major publishing distributors has left bookshops and authors struggling to fill their shelves in the lead-up to their busiest trading period. - ABC Australia

For Its Latest Production, Berlin’s “People’s Stage” Installed A Public Pool. It Became A Culture-War Flashpoint.

“In less than a month (at the Volksbühne), the pool has become a window to the rising power of right-wing online media outlets in Germany, underscored debates over who has the right to cool off in public, … and revealed fundamental changes in Berlin’s working class.” - The New York Times

Ancient Gold Treasure In Spain Stolen In Four-Minute Raid

“Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of Bronze Age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.” - The Guardian

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