With the introduction of the stand-alone audiobooks offering, Spotify is now able to pay lower music-licensing rates for the music-and-audiobook bundle, introduced in the U.S. in November 2023. - Variety
"Here are 19 ways of understanding how TikTok became part of American life. ... Even if you’ve never opened the app, you’ve lived in a culture that exists downstream of what happens there." - The New York Times
"Because as soon as Estonia doesn’t have its own culture, the country will become fair game for Russian propaganda and Russian aggression. … All they have is their culture. And if culture keeps being treated so badly, then we could find ourselves in a really tough situation in 10 years." - Van
"Not every workplace features a guillotine. … Fearsome machines are part of daily life at the lab, which serves as a hospital where ailing books from every department of the museum are restored to health." - The New York Times
"'The motive behind (the caper) was to see if the directors of the museum were prepared to practise what they preach,' said one person familiar with the events (at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne). 'It was an artistic challenge. The technician who hung up the picture wasn’t lusting for fame.'" - The Observer (UK)
"Five Just Stop Oil protesters have been (convicted) of aggravated trespass after they stormed a performance of Les Misérables in London's West End. Two of (them) were also found guilty of criminal damage after standing on the orchestra pit netting. … The estimated cost to the theatre of cancelling the performance was £60,000." - BBC
"The New York Philharmonic, which has been facing an uproar since a recent magazine article detailed allegations of misconduct against two players it tried and failed to fire in 2018, said on Thursday that it was commissioning an outside investigation into its culture." - The New York Times
"Amid growing criticism over its response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, freedom of expression nonprofit PEN America is facing questions over whether its Literary Awards ceremony, World Voices Festival, and Literary Gala, all scheduled to be held within the next month, can proceed as planned." - Publishers Weekly
Our music, films, books and photographs are increasingly accessed via digital platforms rather than stored on our shelves. Do these digital items really feel like “mine” in the same way that physical possessions do? And can they become as personally meaningful? - The Conversation
We’re living in what they call the “Information Age,” but life only seems to be making less sense. We’re isolated, listless, burnt out on screens, cutting loved ones out like tumors in the spirit of “boundaries,” failing to understand other people’s choices or even our own. - LitHub
Instead of standing up for the robust exchange of ideas, lawmakers in state after state are pushing bills that would criminalize librarians for putting certain books on the shelves. Nuisance lawsuits and fights over book bans are draining librarians' time, energy, and resources. - Newsweek
Video games have long bent toward realism, and in the past thirty years engines have become more sophisticated: they can now render near-photorealistic graphics and mimic real-world physics. - The New Yorker
Around 100 protestors gathered outside of the Israeli Pavilion in the Giardini and moved toward other national pavilions, like those of the U.S., France, and Germany, chanting “stop the genocide,” “shut it down,” and “viva Palestina.” - Artnet
The full multiday festival – which last year saw 175 authors appearing in more than 120 events across 10 days – will still not go ahead. However, Wee Write, a festival for children and young people, will now go ahead in autumn on a smaller scale. - The Guardian
Orlando Whitfield (as recounted in his new book): “I mean, this is great, but it’s on a fucking wall. A door was one thing, but this is different.” Philbrick: “I know. But it has to be doable, right? Has to be. Think of all those frescoes they move in Italy.” - The Guardian
