Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Has 21st Century Culture Lost Its Creativity?
Music without instruments and lyrics without meaning. Endless reboots, sequels and superheroes in the cinema. After a burst of magnificent TV dramas in the noughties, every glitzy...
New Study: 97 Percent Of Listeners Can’t Identify Whether The Music They’re Listening To...
A staggering 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between artificial intelligence-generated and human-composed songs, a Deezer–Ipsos survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring growing concerns that AI...
How Schools Across America Are Responding To AI Use
In the face of a revolutionary change that many educators believe will alter the career trajectories of school-aged kids and the instructional methods of...
Preservationists Fight To Save New Deal-Era Murals In Building Called “The Sistine Chapel” Of...
The clock is ticking for Washington, D.C.’s 85-year old Wilbur J. Cohen building, described by preservationists as the “Sistine Chapel of New Deal Art”...
Spotify Launches A “Catch You Up” Feature For Audiobooks, To Summarize What You’ve Read...
The company likens the feature, called Recaps, to a “previously on” segment at the start of episodes in a TV series. - The Verge
Ticket Prices Continue To Soar, But Lawsuits Abound
 There are currently multiple class action lawsuits at various stages, as well as a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against the world’s largest concert...
Landmark AI Ruling On Song Lyrics
The court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI should have acquired licenses for German song lyrics in GEMA’s repertoire before using them to train and...
The Resurgence Of Music On Physical Objects
Continuing one of the more surprising comebacks of the digital age, vinyl album sales in the United States increased for the 18th consecutive year in...
The Muppets Come To Netflix And Go Global
More than almost any other children’s show, Sesame Street seemed to crack the code on how to simultaneously educate and entertain children. - The Guardian
LA’s TV Commercial Business Is Tanking Too
Production in the third quarter of this year was 18 percent lower than last year, and 40 percent lower than the five-year average, according...
The Antique Movie Camera Reviving A Technology
A handful of rare and cranky antiques are powering the ungainly Hollywood resurgence of VistaVision. The format, developed in 1954 by Paramount, was once...
Masterworks Sold Shares In $1 Billion Of Art. Good Investment?
In just eight years, it has become one of the art market’s biggest buyers. Its collection of 500 artworks is now valued at more...
Netflix’s First Venture Into Theme Parks
"This is the first permanent physical manifestation of Netflix for our fans," says the company's chief marking officer, Marian Lee. "They've been inviting us...
Striking British Library Workers Expose Dire Low Pay Consequences
According to their union, they are offered pay deals so dire that many of them work multiple jobs and live in substandard housing. Seventy-one per...
Hollywood Has Slipped Dramatically In Diversifying
To my shock, when I looked at the numbers, I found that not only are things not significantly better, 2025 has been worse than any moment...
Bart Sher: Theatre As Catalyst For Change
“I think theatre is a catalyst for change,” Sher said. “I don’t think you make theatre pieces to tell people how to change. We...
We Have A Growing AI Slop Problem
 Of course, with mass production comes surplus and, then, refuse. We containerize actual trash because otherwise debris gets on everything else and makes everything less...
The Brilliant Critic Who Took On Raising American Literature
Cowley’s power and influence lay in opening, not shutting, the door to a new generation. He came of age at an especially fertile literary...
Controversy Over Appointment Of Palm Springs Art Museum’s New Director
Christine Vendredi may well have proven to be the best candidate, but that the bungled process of simply elevating the chief curator to the...
AI Chatbots Can Make You Smarter. Or They Can Make You Dumber. Here’s How...
Whether we like it or not, chatbots are here to stay. It’s not necessarily a problem, but it risks becoming one if people use...
How Our Brains Are Wired For Motivation
People with higher levels of dopamine are more likely to choose a harder task with a higher reward than an easier, low-reward task. Low...
Rural Libraries are Struggling For Oh So Many Reasons
Communities are already feeling the impact: Some rural libraries in Florida and Mississippi, for example, have frozen interlibrary loan programs, sharply reducing the range...
What NYT Staff Learned When They Asked People To Spend Ten Minutes Look At...
For the team that works on the series, the project has been an enlightening experience. Mr. Buchanan said he had begun noticing subtle things...
Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year Of Reading 153 Books As A Booker Prize Judge
My husband and children knew what this meant. No one tried to compete with the Booker. Anytime after dinner, when there was a discussion...
Claim: End Of Public Funding Will Make Public Media More Polarizing
Losing the rest of the public funding is likely to make the problem worse. In the face of cuts, many stations are issuing renewed appeals to...
