Comparing the number of unique listeners of Aftenposten’s podcasts with those who have used the AI-generated listen-to option on its text articles, the publisher found there was little difference between the two – with younger audiences in particular being drawn in by the audio option. - Press-Gazette
Their small staffs have more tasks to juggle, they depend more on volunteers (meaning unpaid labor), the size of foundation grants is based on the size of budgets (meaning they get less), and there's little money to get word to audiences. Yet they keep soldiering on. - MSN (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A feature-length film, according to the Academy, is anything over 40 minutes. But that has little to do with the length attributed to most movies. It’s vanishingly rare for any feature film to be less than around 82 minutes. - Vox
Watching his A Summer Day, "I succumbed to a strangely paradoxical feeling of calm, continuous dread. … I could understand why Fosse’s work had never caught on with English-speaking audiences — it lacked the release of humor that Beckett provided — but there was no denying its stealthy power." - The New York Times
Amy Mae Baxter, founder of Bad Form: "As costs rise for everyone, it doesn’t feel fair for me not to be paying our contributing writers more, too. So, instead of closing down completely, I have shut down our regular online content, so I can focus on events, community building and print issues." - The Guardian
Its practitioners, mostly in big cities in the U.S., Germany and Japan, attempted to dethrone art by putting its enactment in the hands of ordinary people. They created "event scores" that consisted of minimal instructions for art making to be interpreted as the maker chose, with process valued over final product. - Seven Days
"Locals are hoping it will change (Eastbourne's) reputation and place it on a (larger) cultural stage. But as shown by the experiences of other English seaside towns, big-city culture often dovetails with an influx of new residents and concerns about unfairly shared benefits often follow." - The New York Times
Lance Gardner, who'd given "rock-star performances" in a huge variety of roles, gave up acting in 2019 to become live events producer for public radio/tv outlet KQED. Now he's the new artistic director at the Marin Theatre Company. - MSN (San Francisco Chronicle)
Mostly well, writes Peter Dobrin. The three major offerings got a very warm reception from audiences and critics alike; one sold out its last three performances. But one of them — "one of Opera Philadelphia’s best-ever productions" — played to a large but only half-full house. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"On Wednesday night, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declared that negotiations with SAG-AFTRA are suspended, given that the gap between the parties is 'too great.'" In response, the actors' union accused the studios of "bully tactics." - The Hollywood Reporter
"The grants, ranging from $56,000 to more than $2 million for a three-year period, are intended to fund programs to attract new audiences, whether that means extending free hours or offering free meals." - NPR
"Utah became the latest state to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is 'baiting' children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits. … Arkansas and Indiana have filed similar lawsuits while the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to decide whether state attempts to regulate social media platforms violate the Constitution." - AP
"A memo circulated to NPR staff says traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter, now officially renamed X, though traffic from the platform was small already and accounted for just under two percent of traffic before the posting stopped." - Nieman Reports
The audiobook’s ascent into full-blown aesthetic autonomy came with the arrival of the iPod and its MP3 file format in 2001, and, as of 2023, more than half the U.S. population has listened to an audiobook (in Sweden, they outsell hardcovers). - The New Yorker
