Today’s Highlights: A poignant shift in the market for all you readers out there. It’s the disappearance of the mass-market paperback, a format that democratized reading for a century by being cheap, portable, and available in grocery stores, now vanishing from the U.S. market (NPR). The reality of “budget on the brink” has forced a premature end to star director Yuval Sharon’s tenure at the Detroit Opera, cutting short a bold artistic experiment two years early (The New York Times).
Technology continues to offer a split-screen reality for culture. A new study suggests AI actually boosts human creativity, encouraging deeper engagement and collaboration rather than replacing it (SciTech Daily). On the other hand, the “slop” is rising: reports indicate that 20 percent of videos shown to YouTube users is now AI-generated, creating a low-quality content mill generating millions in revenue (The Guardian).
Meanwhile, media habits are morphing in unexpected ways. Podcasts have entered their “Eras Tour” era, shifting from solitary listening experiences to raucous, multicity live stadium events (Los Angeles Times (MSN)). Finally, Beyoncé has officially joined the billionaire club, cementing her status alongside Jay-Z and Taylor Swift as a financial titan of the industry (Variety).
