ArtsJournal - Newsside

Building Audiences

‘Live Shows Are About To Come Roaring Back To Full Houses’, Says One Critic

AUDIENCE, ISSUES Posted:

Chris Jones: “There’s real evidence now of pent-up demand. Consider what is happening in Las Vegas. Cirque du Soleil, which has emerged from bankruptcy protection and put its famous productions of both Mystère and O on sale last week …, has seen colossal demand for tickets. … Comedian Dave Chappelle sold 13,000 tickets for his July 2 concert. The Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny had 45,000 people in his waiting room, all trying to buy tickets at once. Get the drift, Chicago entertainment peeps? People are ready.” – Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)

Why Viewers With Thousands Of Options Are Choosing To Stream Old TV Series

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

The Office and The Sopranos were two of the biggest hits of 2020, according to streaming services, which have recently paid hundreds of millions of dollars for exclusive rights to long-off-the-air favorite comedies such as Seinfeld, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and South Park. Why? The same reason people turn to comfort food: reassurance and the dopamine hit. – BBC

The Birth Of The Paid Claque (Annals Of Opera History)

AUDIENCE, MUSIC Posted:

Back in the early 19th century, “the directors of the Paris Opera saw no reason to leave the success of their performances up to the whims of an unpredictable audience. To guarantee acclaim, they employed the services of an organized body of professional applauders, commonly known as the ‘claque.’ These claqueurs were tucked away throughout the audience, disguised as members of the public.” Why did this profession arise? Well, for roughly the same reason that professional music criticism did. – JSTOR Daily

Trial Indoor Performance With Audience Of 4,500 Shows Little Indication Of COVID Transmission

AUDIENCE, ISSUES Posted:

The event, a rock concert at an arena in Barcelona on March 27, required attendees to have an antigen test beforehand and to wear masks throughout, but no social distancing was required. Two weeks later, only six audience members (four of whom say they were exposed elsewhere) tested positive for COVID, which extrapolates to half the current infection rate in Barcelona as a whole. – Yahoo! (AP)

Oscars Ratings Plunge 58 Percent From Last Year’s Record Low

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

Among adults 18 to 49, the demographic that many advertisers pay a premium to reach, the Oscars suffered an even steeper 64 percent decline, according to preliminary data from Nielsen released on Monday. Nielsen’s final numbers are expected on Tuesday and will include out-of-home viewing and some streaming statistics. – The New York Times

American TV Watchers Flee Cable

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

Five years ago, 63% of Americans mostly watched television through cable and satellite. Today, that percentage has dropped to fewer than half of all Americans, while the percentage of those primarily watching television via a streaming service on the internet has jumped 17 percentage points, from 20% in 2016 to 37% today. – CBS News

The Oscars Disrupted Union Station And More

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

How wild to have a show with Crip Camp nominated for best documentary, a show that prevented disabled people in L.A. from getting to their subway trains – and also forced hordes of people to find the new site for COVID-19 testing. Ash Pana, who lives by Union Station and “who suffers from chronic pain and sometimes uses a walker, said other disabled people had been directed to detour at least 10 blocks rather than receive an escort into the station to which they needed access.” – Los Angeles Times

The Detroit Symphony Gets A Letter From A Non-Fan Of Black Composers’ Music

AUDIENCE, MUSIC Posted:

And then DSO vice-president Erik Rönmark posted the letter to social media (with the patron’s, or former patron’s, name redacted). Response on social media was strong. The CEO of a tech company wrote: “You just won yourself a new patron at the $125 level. My company … would like to sponsor 4 new patrons at this same level, preferably people under 40 and/or BIPOC. How can we do this? Keep up the good work!!” – Classical FM

Paul Schrader: The End Of The Movie Feature As We Knew It?

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

“The two-hour format which was so ideally suited to theatrical, we’ve now trained young people for fifteen months not to see that as a primary way to have audiovisual entertainment. Now, how they come back or if they come back . . . they’re certainly not going to come back in the way they once were.” – The New Yorker

NPR And PRX To Offer Paid Subscription Option For Podcasts

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

NPR will give listeners the choice to pay — via its own platforms, Apple, or Spotify — a yet-undetermined monthly fee in order to receive its podcasts without advertising sponsorship messages; the network will also make this option available to member stations for their podcasts. PRX will offer a $4.99 monthly subscription to podcasts it distributes via four channels on Apple Podcasts; again, subscribers will be able to bypass underwriting announcements. – Current

Gen Z’s Say Movies, TV Are Fifth On Their Entertainment Preferences

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

About 26% of Gen Z said video games are their top entertainment activity, and 87% of those in the age bracket said they play video games daily or weekly. That’s followed by listening to music (14%), browsing the internet (12%) and engaging on social media (11%). Only 10% of Gen Z respondents said watching TV or movies was their favorite entertainment pastime, the Deloitte study found. – Variety

This Year’s Oscars — Disaster In The Making?

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

There may be fundamental problems with the way the Academy Awards connect with contemporary Hollywood films and their audiences. “For some time the movies nominated for best picture represent only a tiny fraction of the tickets sold – there is chasm between the Oscars and the moviegoing public. The Marvel and DC films are hardly ever up for best picture, or Star Wars, while the Pixar moves are relegated to the animated category, so the pictures that constitute 90% of moviegoing just aren’t there.” – The Guardian

Many Theatres Have Survived The Pandemic So Far – But The Future Is An Open Question

AUDIENCE, THEATRE Posted:

Ironically, bringing audiences back may be the issue. “While this year looks fairly stable, a greater threat may still lie ahead. The emergency infusions of cash that kept so many companies afloat — as well as savings from furloughs and shifting artistic output online — will trickle away once they start staging shows again for live audiences, which could begin on a significant scale later this year.” – Washington Post

What Do The Vaccines Mean For Ballet?

AUDIENCE, DANCE Posted:

Let an infectious-disease doctor explain why dancers need to get vaccinated. It’s not just for themselves: “A significant part of the patronage of many ballet companies are those over the age of 60 and, therefore, at highest risk of death and complications if infected with COVID. Though a dancer may not get ill from COVID, if they are carrying the virus and expose their patrons to the illness, it is a losing situation for all involved. In addition, the dancers work side by side with choreographers, ballet mistresses, company directors, costume departments and the like, most of whom are older and, therefore, at risk for complications from COVID as well. The more people that are vaccinated, the less likely it is anyone becomes ill.” – Pointe Magazine

What Artists Are Missing Most About Live Arts Experiences

AUDIENCE, ISSUES Posted:

One artist: “I miss the openings ! The free wine! And friends who you don’t get to see often, making rare appearances. Seeing art in the flesh was something I didn’t realise I needed so much for my own inspiration. It’s just not the same on the screen, even with photography. I want to see the print and the framing and all the details.” – The Guardian (UK)

With Theatres Closed, Regular Folks Have Taken To Doing Play Readings On Zoom

AUDIENCE, THEATRE Posted:

“Over the past year, as many theaters worldwide have remained closed, online play reading groups have arisen to fill that dramatic gap, with more or less prowess — on Zoom, on Skype, on the audio-only app Clubhouse. Some participants merely read their lines, scripts in hand, others act them out. Many clubs stick to Shakespeare and affiliated classics, but plenty range more widely, integrating contemporary plays, Star Trek episodes and film scripts.” Some stage professionals have started readings as well, and groups are even moving offline and gathering in parks. – The New York Times

What The Closing Of The Arclight Theatres Means For Movie Theatres

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

The truth is, the cinema experience as we know it, is likely doomed. While it isn’t going to disappear entirely, it will become a “nice to have” option for the populace, versus the “must have” it was through much of the 20th century. Look forward to much more expensive tickets and far fewer movie houses, more like what happened with live theater and Broadway. – Forbes

We’re Living In A Golden Age For Documentaries, But They Have To Drop Their Cheesy Re-enactments

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

The rush of documentaries – they are cheaper to make, and especially if they’re true crime, there’s a willing and eager audience – has some aesthetic issues. “Cornball fuzzy re-creations lack credibility. … It doesn’t have to be like this. Plenty of recent shows and movies have made compelling artistic choices that enliven the storytelling.” – The New York Times

“Godzilla” Is A Hit — And It Could Change How Movies Are Distributed

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

It’s the kind of hybrid release that would have seemed impossible to pull off prior to the pandemic. Today, it’s the clearest indication yet that COVID-19 has forever changed how movies will be distributed. And the results have left Hollywood questioning what the film’s success means for the future of moviegoing. – Baltimore Sun