A 2018 Government Accountability Office study shared by the White House earlier this year found service fees to hover around 27 percent of the face value of a ticket, on average. But the soaring price of concert tickets isn’t just going away with a corporate vow of transparency and some senators sniffing around. - Pitchfork
"As at a disco, those standing can dance as they like. But they are also herded by wranglers in magenta jumpsuits with light-up wands like the ones used to direct taxiing airplanes. Wheeled platforms and runways are regularly rearranged around the floor area." - The New York Times
"Some independent films and television productions are being granted waivers by the union that will allow them to continue … amid the strike. … Here's what to know about the 'interim agreements' that are keeping some Hollywood productions filming." - AP
"Pew Research Center's just-published findings … as part of its bi-annual 'State of the News Media' show that public radio's audience trended down in 2022, part of a steady decline since 2017, although local station and NPR revenue continued to grow." - Inside Radio
"Widely respected in European architecture circles but virtually unknown in the United States, Nieto Sobejano was chosen from a field of six finalists, among them Pritzker Prize laureate David Chipperfield and High Line architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro." - MSN (The Dallas Morning News)
Daniels, one of the first countertenors to find wide success in mainstream opera houses, and his husband, Scott Walters, were charged in 2019 with aggravated sexual assault for a 2010 incident in which the two men allegedly drugged and raped a young singer they had met. - The New York Times
"Visits to the Acropolis of Athens, Greece's most popular archaeological site, will be capped starting next month at a maximum 20,000 daily and subject to varying hourly entry limits. … As many as 23,000 people a day have been squeezing into the monument complex, mostly large groups visiting before noon." - AP
"Specific contract details were not made available. But the announcement stated, 'The new contract restores traditional annual wage growth going forward and includes a 'catch-up' increase for the musicians following a three-year pandemic pause in their wages under the existing contract approved in 2020." - The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA)
I could probably come up with another DCCCLXXXIX reasons why Arabic numerals eat Neptune’s you-know-what's for breakfast, but you get the idea. - The New Yorker
Look at any social media post that has more than a dozen responses; inevitably, one of them will attack the original post on the basis of some perceived moral transgression. - The Walrus
The billionaire philanthropist, investor, and founder of The Berggruen Institute, a global think tank, sees Venice as a strategic location for his intellectual and cultural endeavors. The Berggruen Institute is a bridge connecting Los Angeles, where it is headquartered, to Beijing, home of the Berggruen China Center at Peking University. - Whitewall
Total advertising revenue fell 13% year over year to $2.5 billion, while revenue from studio content plunged 25% to $2.4 billion during the quarter, which included the disappointing release of “The Flash” from Warner’s DC superhero franchise. - The Wall Street Journal
Warner Bros. Discovery lost 1.8 million streaming subscribers from April 1-June 30, the quarter during which it launched new combined streamer Max. - Variety
The logic behind sentences can appear bewildering if not considered in the context of the myriad factors underpinning a judge’s decision. - The Art Newspaper
"So far, this has not been a joyful summer. … The Pinegrove Shuffle is an antithesis to the pink — albeit fun — universe of Barbie. It's about longing in the real world, which, on the day Lee filmed, was cloudy with smoke from the Canadian wildfires." - The New York Times
