"It’s a misconception that Spotify ‘doesn’t pay well’ – as we’ve proved time and time again. The $10B we paid out in 2024 and $60B all time is industry-leading and record-breaking - the largest contribution to the music industry. “The music industry is healthier than ever.” - Music Radar
A.R. Rahman (Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire, which he’s adapting for the stage) is starting with a 3,000-seat theater in his hometown, Chennai, and wants to set up additional venues elsewhere in Tamil Nadu state and, eventually, beyond. - Variety
What some in the east suspected, but very few knew for sure, was that the uncensored literature flooding the country wasn’t reaching Poles by chance. It was sent as part of a decades-long US intelligence operation, known in Washington as the “CIA book program.” - The Guardian
Chaim Grade was considered one of the greatest novelists in the language, and his last work. Sons and Daughters, was serialized in Yiddish newspapers without ever getting published. After Grade died, his widow obstructed access to his papers. So the discovery of missing material was a big event. - The New York Times
Optimism is, after all, by its nature delusional; ‘realism’ or outright pessimism might seem more justifiable given the troubles of the present and the uncertainties of the future. - Psyche
When it opens on May 22, Epic Universe will become Florida’s first major new park in a generation — and, Universal hopes, a property that will reverse a longstanding business dynamic with Walt Disney World to the south. - The New York Times
Lester Holt (NBC Nightly News), Chuck Todd (Meet the Press), Hoda Kotb (The Today Show), Norah O’Donnell (CBS Evening News), Joy Reid and Alex Wagner (MSNBC) — all recently departed. And their successors won’t yet have established credibility with viewers at a time when faith in TV news is ebbing. - Variety
“Using ... harnesses, ropes and belay devices, (the Oakland-based company) Bandaloop can take dance’s soaring, ethereal qualities to extremes and bring them to unlikely perpendicular surfaces like the rock face of El Capitan in California or Tianmen Mountain in China.” Or the Nederlander Theater, in the musical Redwood. - The New York Times
“An exhibition by a prominent artist reopened last month at the National Museum, including a large painting with images of bare skin. At the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts, students of contemporary dance have resumed rehearsing. Syria's National Symphony Orchestra held its first performance since the fall of Assad.” - Reuters
“Radio Begum launched on International Women’s Day in March 2021, five months before the Taliban seized power amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. … The Taliban (has) lifted their suspension over alleged cooperation with an overseas TV channel.” - AP
“The 76-year-old (French) actor, already accused in a string of sexual assault and rape cases, is suspected of falsely declaring his tax residency to be in Belgium since 2013.” - AFP (Yahoo!)
“According to this study, 92% of (disadvantaged) students had greater access to books because of Little Free Library boxes, 49% read more frequently (an average of 1.1 additional days per week), and 88% of children have built their own at-home book collections.” - Publishers Weekly
“The satirical work, titled ‘America’ ..., poked fun at excessive wealth. It weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was insured for £4.8 million ($6 million).” Prosecutors say that one of three defendants was involved in the actual theft and the other two helped to sell the disassembled gold. - AP
“I think of it as inviting this so-called ‘main stage’ to go outdoors and inviting the education programming to be ‘main stage’ in the sense that it is without distinction or for this particular kind of audience.” - CultureOC
The effort spent trying to impress others; the dazzling meals I was too tired to cook but cook I did; the Guardian column that I just couldn’t stop tinkering with. What can get lost in all this are the ordinary feelings and parts of myself that have ended up neglected, because I didn’t consider them dazzling enough. - The...
