Arguably, the dominant cultural issue of our time is the changes in how people are finding and getting culture.  In response, business models supporting culture and the kinds of culture being made are also changing.  It also underpins debates about diversity, engagement and power. Some broad themes this week:   1. Where the audience is going Record Profits As … [Read more...]

How Are Audiences Getting Their Arts? When the Danish Chamber Orchestra got itself into a funding crisis it threw a Hail Mary and launched a Kickstarter campaign. Guess what? Improbably, it worked…  The celebrity gossip website TMZ turned itself into a media powerhouse by crowdsourcing.  “TMZ resembles an intelligence agency as much as a news organization, and it has … [Read more...]

  So what do audiences want? Cheaper tickets, for sure. Or at least the opportunity to pay what they want.   One theatre converted its season to pay-as-you-want and saw a 50% increase in audience. But perhaps it's frustrating that people don't see more people like themselves on stages. "One of my frustrations with what happens on the stage a lot of the time … [Read more...]

There are so many ways that people watch TV shows these days that the television industry has no idea how to measure whether a show is a hit. “Nielsen, the 93-year-old company that has long operated an effective monopoly over television ratings in the United States, is facing blistering criticism from TV and advertising executives who see it as a relic of television’s … [Read more...]

Audience tastes are always changing. Artists are always changing. So how do you determine popularity? The data's in: For the first time, old recordings outsold new releases in 2015. This despite the massive popularity of Adele’s new album late in the year. When all of recorded music is available on demand anywhere, it’s not surprising that the back catalogue becomes more … [Read more...]