Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Vinyl Record Sales Are Booming – But The Pressing Plants Can’t Keep Up
Buyers want way more records than the only two remaining pressing facilities in Southern California, can supply. That’s true globally, too: There aren’t enough...
Lessons In Creativity From The Demise Of The Once-Ubiquitous Blackberry
The sheer number of cultural artifacts is stupefying. More photographs were taken yesterday than in the entire first century of photography. Odds are that some were...
Why Universal Music Group Supports A Far Right Senator
On Sunday, federal regulators put UMG’s PAC on notice, flagging the group for giving Marsha Blackburn more than the legal limit allowed in an election. -...
How Hobbies Took Over America (For Good And Bad)
“Hobbies take on this aura of being good, useful, appropriate, and socially sanctioned. Something you should—the word here is should—be doing. And if you’re one...
Art World Trends That Will Build In 2022
Above all else, the popularity of Immersive Everything spoke to the way in which a year-long period of cultural life existing mostly on tech platforms...
Yes We’re Productive. But Burned Out Too. A Revolution Is Under Way
For knowledge workers, the biggest sign that the status quo is broken is the rise in self-reported burnout. McKinsey and Lean In collaborated on...
We’re Awash In Stories. We’re Addicted To Stories. To What Effect?
Now that we have more storytelling than ever, has empathy increased apace? If stories have such sunny effects, why has the big bang of...
An Economist Wonders: Why In The Arts Are “The Greatest” All Oldies?
Why are composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Bach widely regarded as the greatest of all time? Why is it that in a 1985 survey of art experts...
Club To Harness Dancers’ Body Heat To Power Building
What if dance-floor catharsis could be good not only for the soul but also for the planet? This month, SWG3 and the geothermal energy...
No, Your Attention Span Didn’t Just Shrink. It Was Stolen
A small study of college students found they now only focus on any one task for 65 seconds. A different study of office workers...
Stephen Lawrence, Composer Of Sesame Street Music, 82
From Muppets to major stars, Lawrence composed the music for hundreds of Sesame Street songs. He also served as music director for Free to Be... You and...
Boston-Area Church Pays “Royalties” For Performing African-American Spirituals
"Today, we as a church will begin the practice of collecting ‘royalties’ ... for the spirituals we sing and worship. Whenever we sing Negro...
Venice’s Calatrava Footbridge Is A Visual Surprise in An Ancient City. But Pedestrians Have...
The glass floor of the bridge is slippery, and locals have learned to be careful. Warning signs posted by the city didn't help. So...
Stop Blaming Tribalism For What Ails Us
Although the notion that group solidarity leads inevitably to prejudice, animosity, and conflict is common, it is also incorrect and potentially dangerous. - The...
Latest Blockbuster Music Catalog Sale: David Bowie For $250 Million
The deal, for more than 400 songs, also includes soundtrack music; the material for Bowie’s short-lived band Tin Machine from the late 1980s and...
Opera House Appoints Italy’s First Woman Music Director
The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn she was making history after receiving the offer from the Teatro Comunale opera...
When Harry Reid Helped Michael Heiser Realize His Magnum Opus
A lesser-known part of his legacy—one that’s arguably just as enduring as his political feats—is his campaign to preserve Nevada land that is host...
Under The Radar Festival Is Canceled
The Public announced the cancellation on Twitter today. Considered one of the top international theater festivals focusing on new work, Under The Radar 2022...
Entertainment Stocks Didn’t Have A Great 2021
Disney had its worst year since 2008. Discovery, ViacomCBS, AT&T and AMC Networks also ended down. Netflix, Fox, Lionsgate and Sony rose. Comcast was flat. Fubo, a...
Streaming Has Made Counting Viewers Trickier
Of course, there has been grumbling for decades about Nielsen’s methods or the validity of box office projections, but there was generally some kind of verdict once...
Hilton Als: What Joan Didion Knew About America
Global in mind but a small-town girl at heart, Didion stayed close to home because she was, first and foremost, a writer, and she...
American-Style Culture Wars Come To France
Politicians, media commentators, and scholars from both left and right all seem to agree that the French political debate has been contaminated by American...
Much-Hyped “Harry Potter” Network Reunion Excluded JK Rowling
The network made it abundantly clear that she was not directly involved, flashing a disclaimer every time she (briefly) appeared that her interviews were...
Lost Bronte Sisters Trove Was Going To Be Sold. Fans Saved It
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the American-British-Ukrainian petrochemical-finance-entertainment mogul, put up half the money to buy it for the public a few weeks ago — with...
How To Define Composer Caroline Shaw?
Her work inspires articles with headlines like “Is Caroline Shaw Really the Future of Music?” and “Caroline Shaw Is Firing on All Creative Cylinders”...
