They expect about 25 million U.S. households to cancel their pay-TV subscriptions over the next five years. This is on top of the 25 million homes that have already cut the cord since 2012. At least three major media companies now expect pay-TV subscriptions to stabilize around 50 million, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to speak on the record because their company plans are private. – CNBC
‘Unmitigated Disaster’: Why Vice Media Appears Headed Toward A Bad End
“After being perceived as the red-hot center of Millennial-based media culture for the past decade or so, Vice’s place is harder to pinpoint now. Some of it is still edgy and provocative. But increasingly the impact of its work feels more like the proverbial trees falling in the forest. … Top executives at Vice tell you the present is pretty damn fabulous, while the best is yet to come. Former employees — or at least those willing to speak out despite confidentiality provisions in their contracts — say Vice is an unmitigated disaster.” – Air Mail
Is Calling Beethoven By Only His Last Name Racist?
“On the one hand, then, initiatives toward diversity and inclusion are placing new names on concert programs, syllabi, and research papers, names that might not have been there 10 or 20 years ago—or even last year. But these names are appearing next to those that have been drilled deep into our brains by the forces of the inherited canon. This collision between increasing diversity and the mononyms of music history has created a hierarchical system that, whether or not you find it useful, can now only be seen as outdated and harmful.” – Slate
‘Homiesexual’ — Young Straight Guys Getting Cuddly With Their Bros On TikTok Draw Big Audiences
“The youth-oriented social media platform is rife with videos showing ostensibly heterosexual young men spooning in cuddle-puddle formation, cruising each other on the street while walking with their girlfriends, sharing a bed, going in for a kiss, admiring each other’s chiseled physiques and engaging in countless other homoerotic situations served up for humor and, ultimately, views.” And the vast majority of the fans are female. – The New York Times
Viola Smith, Who Blazed A Path For Women Drummers In Big Band And Swing, 107
Smith was called a “hep girl” and billed as the “fastest girl drummer in the world.” In the formerly all-male preserve of the big band and swing eras, “Smith sat behind a giant drum set that included a double bass drum, an instrument that would years later become a tool for hard-hitting rock drummers.” – The Guardian (UK)
Entire Hong Kong Philharmonic Trapped In Island Quarantine
Ever since the bass clarinetist tested positive for the coronavirus, “they have been placed in the same section of the 1,080-room camp [on Lantau Island], each minimally furnished room the size of a standard shipping container. Jamming and group rehearsals are banned, obviously, given that nobody can leave their own rooms.” Here’s how they’re getting through the days. – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Artists Auction Future Royalties For Cash Today
While Royalty Exchange might sound like a dating service for those in the peerage, it’s actually a company geared to assisting artists looking to auction off some of their most valuable assets: their royalties and residual rights. Royalties and residuals are contract-guaranteed percentages doled out to creators and performers based on the use or performance of works they were involved in. And participation in a hit song, movie or TV show can mean they rack up pretty fast. – Los Angeles Times
Man Brings A Banksy On Antiques Roadshow And…
“I think the message here is that, if you do see a piece of graffiti art out there, leave it, leave it for the public,” Maas said in a manner reminiscent of a not-angry-but-disappointed dad. “I’m not lecturing you. I’m just saying, without that certificate, it’s just very difficult to sell. With it, it might be worth £20,000. Without it, you’re nowhere.” – Artnet
Unrelenting Online Abuse Is Affecting Freedom Of Expression
That’s especially true for women, especially women of color, Jewish women, and other women who face abuse on multiple fronts. “There are much wider implications for democracy when women are reluctant to come forward for fear of the abuse they will suffer.” – Irish Times
The Stories Our Clothing Tells
We know the power of “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn,” for instance, but also: “What particular sadness (or happiness) may be found in this worn heel or that frayed cuff? In the coat that is so pristine, we can only deduce that its owner gave it just a single outing?” – The Observer (UK)
Help End Sexism And Racism In Classical Music By ‘All-Naming’ All Composers
What? Here’s the (beautifully depicted) deal: “There will be a time when we’ll go to concerts again. We will buy our tickets, shuffle shoulder to shoulder down the aisle, and find our seats. The lights will dim, and the conductor will walk onto the stage to introduce the program. They might talk about Beethoven, Schumann, and Bartók. And they might talk about Alma Mahler, Florence Price, Henry Burleigh, and Caroline Shaw. Many of us, used to the conventions of classical performance, will hardly notice the difference: ‘traditional’ white male composers being introduced with only surnames, full names for everyone else, especially women and composers of color.” – Slate
Edith O’Hara, Founder Of 13th Street Repertory Company, 103
Her life was like a New York urban legend: “Ms. O’Hara didn’t move to Manhattan until midway through her long life, but once she did she plunged into the theater scene with gusto. Her children called her the Hurricane.” – The New York Times
Analyzing The Gender Politics Of Netflix’s Newest Gothic Series
The series comes so close. And yet. “Perhaps, in more deft hands, this storyline could be a transgressive investigation of the ways in which women, and particularly mothers, are forced to carry terrible burdens, as well as, perhaps, provocative commentary on femme identity, queerness, and found family.” – BuzzFeed
How Do Crime Writers Reconcile Their Fictional Good Cops With Reality?
It’s not easy, especially for Black women writing crime fiction. Rachel Howzell Hall: “I think for the most part, people of color, writers of color who write mystery and crime, have written the proper cop. … There are those cops that don’t do the right thing and we reflect that in our novels because we’ve lived it.” – Los Angeles Times
The Limits Of Extreme Comedy
Well, probably not, says an expert. “Becker found that audiences tended to react to those situations along party lines: If they already believed what they were being told, they were likely to find the comedy credible. If they don’t hold the same beliefs, the opposite effect can be seen.” – CBC