{"id":2575,"date":"2022-05-23T19:10:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T02:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=2575"},"modified":"2022-05-25T21:47:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T04:47:41","slug":"the-undertow-subscriptions-are-the-new-business-model-of-choice-so-why-are-subscriptions-failing-in-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2022\/05\/the-undertow-subscriptions-are-the-new-business-model-of-choice-so-why-are-subscriptions-failing-in-the-arts.html","title":{"rendered":"The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"626\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?resize=1024%2C626&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?resize=1024%2C626&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?resize=300%2C183&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?resize=768%2C469&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Image by <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/biljast-2868488\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3219817\">Biljana Jovanovic<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3219817\">Pixabay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the world\u2019s largest companies have opted out of traditional retail transactions in favor of subscription models. Whether it\u2019s software, newspapers, movies, TV, or even food, fashion or cars, subscription schemes are becoming a go-to model. And headlines the past few weeks have been full of stories about what\u2019s happening to subscriber-driven companies \u2013 Netflix most of all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So perhaps a slightly awkward question: \u2013 given that traditional arts institutions have depended on the subscription ticket model for decades, why are arts subscriptions now in steep decline just as the rest of the world has latched on to them as their ticket forward? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it the subscription model that\u2019s not working or is it the way the arts do subscriptions? We\u2019ll look into what\u2019s going on with Netflix \u2013 perhaps the world\u2019s largest subscription model &#8211; and talk about the trends and where they\u2019re pointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-10670503\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/1585927\/10670503-episode-3-if-subscriptions-are-the-new-go-to-business-model-why-are-they-failing-the-arts.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-10670503&amp;player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>NOTE: Some readers have asked for a transcript. Here is one below (please excuse typos\/transcription oddnesses) Also &#8211; please remember &#8211; this is me speaking, not writing, so it is different in style\/form than were I writing an actual post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi: This is Doug McLennan, and welcome to another episode of The UnderTow, ArtsJournal\u2019s new more-or-less-weekly podcast examining the issues underlying headlines of cultural stories making news. This week: Subscriptions everywhere. Many of the world\u2019s largest companies have opted out of traditional retail transactions in favor of subscription models. Whether it\u2019s software, newspapers, movies, TV, or even food, fashion or cars, subscription schemes are becoming a go-to model. And headlines the past few weeks have been full of stories about what\u2019s happening to subscriber-driven companies \u2013 Netflix most of all. So perhaps a slightly awkward question: \u2013 given that traditional arts institutions have depended on the subscription ticket model for decades, why are arts subscriptions now in steep decline just as the rest of the world has latched on to them as their ticket forward? Is it the subscription model that\u2019s not working or is it the way the arts do subscriptions? We\u2019ll look into what\u2019s going on with Netflix \u2013 perhaps the world\u2019s largest subscription model &#8211; and talk about the trends and where they\u2019re pointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, &#8212; speaking of subscriptions &#8212; if you like what you\u2019re hearing, and want to explore any of our other episodes and be alerted when new podcasts drop, please hit the subscribe, like or comment buttons wherever you get you podcasts. Preferably all three, even. It helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First thing to say is &nbsp;\u2013 I know we all watch movies, but why should we care about Netflix and the news over the past two weeks that the company reported a loss of about 600,000 subscribers in its first quarter \u2013 which constitutes less than half of one percent of its 221 million, I should note \u2013 hammering down the company\u2019s stock?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts are freaking out because Netflix is perhaps the poster child for a subscription model that now drives and pays for services and products all across the internet. Netflix has seen massive subscriber growth over the past decade, and particularly during the COVID lockdowns as people stayed home instead of going out. It should also be said that Netflix has spent massively in recent years on making movies and series as it transitioned from simply being a platform that licensed already-made content, to becoming one of the largest producers in Hollywood. In 2021, Netflix spent $17 billion on making content, basically allowing it access to whatever talent and projects it wanted. Netflix\u2019s spending spree helped fuel a record number of 559 productions across all platforms in 2021, almost double the number of a decade earlier. And over the past ten years, Netflix has been nominated for and won dozens of Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes. So to sum up \u2013 one of Hollywood biggest players. So the Netflix model has been a transformative model for the entertainment business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But today I want to expand the discussion from Netflix to the subscription model itself. In the early days of Netflix, the company demonstrated such success for its model that in Silicon Valley it spawned a whole category of startups that pitched themselves as \u201cthe Netflix of\u2026\u201d and fill in the blank as you want\u2026 What this meant was simple. Access to an entire store of whatever you want with astonishing choice for a very small recurring fee. You could apply the idea to anything \u2013 why buy a whole car when you could get access to one whenever you wanted for a fraction of the cost? &nbsp;Or food or clothes \u2013 for a low fee we\u2019ll send you meals and sweaters on a regular schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So as a business model, subscriptions took off. And this was no small achievement. Finally, after almost two decades of attempts to shift the way we pay for things in the digital economy, people\u2019s willingness to pay for content through subscriptions has seemed to have turned the tide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time \u2013 paradoxically \u2013 across the arts, which have reliably depended on subscription models for decades, subscription sales have been declining for years. The executive director of one major orchestra told me a couple of years ago that subscriptions are done. Finished. And there\u2019s little motivation in trying to cling to an old model that no longer works. Just a couple of weeks ago a marketing director of another major orchestra told me that post-COVID \u2013 and I guess we really can\u2019t say \u201cpost\u201d anything yet, but anyway &#8212; single ticket sales had actually rebounded above 2019 level, but that subscriptions were a dead letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t really blame people for not buying subscriptions to live events right now. How do you know what the pandemic situation is even a month from now, let alone at the other end of a season. But it isn\u2019t just the pandemic that\u2019s been killing subscriptions \u2013 as competition for our attention has exploded fueled by the internet, audiences have been less willing to commit to buying blocks of tickets in advance. This creates problems when you\u2019re a producer trying to plan ahead a season and dependent on steady income. Still \u2013 subscription businesses all around us are thriving \u2013 even Netflix \u2013 in a time of heightened competition. And tickets to big pop concerts sell out months ahead in a flash. &nbsp;So why are subscriptions dying in the arts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a way of looking at the digital revolution of the past 20 years as a debate about how people are going to pay for the things they use. If you want to really boil it down to basics, there are really only three options \u2013 I pay, you pay, or someone else pays. Simple as that. \u201cI pay\u201d is the traditional retail transaction \u2013 I pick out what I want, you tell me the price and I pay it. \u201cYou pay\u201d is a little more nuanced. For whatever reason \u2013 maybe you\u2019re looking to build audience or market share, maybe you\u2019re hoping to get me into a relationship with you so you can entice me into paying something more later, the value to you in having me as a customer is something you\u2019re willing to subsidize. And finally there\u2019s \u201csomebody else pays.\u201d The classic example is the advertising model in which an advertiser pays a content publisher of platform to reach an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>None of these was invented by the internet. But the internet upended the cost of production and the ways people get access to ideas and things, and, perhaps most important, changed the expectations people have about what they have to pay and how. &nbsp;Inside these three types of transactions are many flavors and hybrids, and none is necessarily better than another, depending on the objectives. When people talk about disruption of business models brought about by the internet, they\u2019re usually talking about something in version one two or three that used to work but no longer does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the best example of this is iTunes and the iPod. In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, which instantly changed the way people got their music. Instead of buying a physical recording such as a CD, Apple sold you a digital file that it could price much lower because it didn\u2019t have to physically make those CDs. But perhaps the most important thing iTunes did was reset consumer expectation. iTunes made it so easy to get and share music that people were willing to give up the idea that when they bought something they could hold it in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The movie industry was later to the game \u2013 they could see that their business was going to change with the internet, but they didn\u2019t know how. But they had the advantage of being able to hang out watching how the music business fared because that early-2000s internet was actually quite slow, and while you could download a song in a few minutes, a movie would take hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The movie business, however, had one advantage music didn\u2019t. Blockbuster Video had conditioned customers to the idea that they didn\u2019t need to own movies \u2013 they could rent fairly cheaply. This is important, because when Netflix came along, its radical idea was that instead of going to your neighborhood Blockbuster, you could choose your movie from a vast selection of titles online, and Netflix would send your movie on a dvd by the next day. Moreover, you could watch as many movies as you wanted and there were never any much-hated late return fees. In other words \u2013 don\u2019t rent \u201ca\u201d movie, buy access to all movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course the dvd-by-mail business was really just a placeholder until technology improved the internet enough where Netflix could stream any movie in its catalog to as many people who wanted to watch it whenever they wanted. Netflix in the beginning didn\u2019t make content \u2013 they gave customers access to other people\u2019s content and reduced all the effort of getting to it to a couple of clicks. The toughest thing about seeing a movie wasn\u2019t having to leave your house and go to a movie theatre or the video store \u2013 it was sorting out what you felt like watching from what seemed like an endless array of choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay \u2013 scroll up to 2022 and Netflix has managed to attract 221 million subscribers to become the biggest of the new streaming platforms. Right now the competition for streaming services is intense, with dozens competing for customers, including Amazon with 175 million subscribers, Disney+ with 137 million, HBOMax, Hulu, Paramount+ etc. Most of us now have multiple subscriptions to various services so we can see the shows we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the competition is getting too fierce, and Netflix\u2019s first subscriber decline \u2013 even if it\u2019s still just a slight one \u2013 suggests the market might be getting saturated. Plus \u2013 Netflix\u2019s massive spending on producing content \u2013 indiscriminately so, has squeezed its margins. At the risk of being not kind, while Netflix has made a lot of quality shows, it\u2019s also been loading up on crap \u2013 and unlike a streaming service like HBOMax or even Disney+, both of which are more focused on a quality brand rather than recreating, oh I don\u2019t know \u2013 CBS, maybe \u2013 they\u2019re maybe starting to max out on subscribers &#8212; which is why the stock took such an astonishing plunge. But really, we\u2019re probably at the very start of what will be some consolidation of some of these subscriber platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I get back to the arts though, I want to explore another company and industry that has evolved its subscription model for the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century. And that\u2019s journalism. Now \u2013 journalism always had subscriptions, sometimes highly discounted to lock readers into consuming the papers every day. But in truth, subscriptions were never the real revenue engine for newspapers, though they were crucially important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newspapers were firmly in the \u201csomebody else pays\u201d category of models. Subscriptions \u2013 indeed even single-copy sales were never the biggest revenue \u2013 advertising was, and it was a lucrative business indeed. In the 1990s, newspapers were making 20 percent margins. Subscription income? That maybe paid for the cost of physically printing the paper, or delivering it (but not both). All of the costs of reporting, editing, &#8212; all the things that made the content \u2013 were paid for by advertisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the internet came along, newspapers initially thought that freed of the overhead of printing and delivery, they\u2019d do quite well. They were wrong. Turns out once advertisers could see exactly who was looking at their ads, they weren\u2019t so willing to pay as much as they had been. Also \u2013 with millions of websites online, the places you could slap ad on grew exponentially. The rates advertisers had paid collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as fewer people were interested in paying for paper copies, the news business collapsed, with more than half of all journalism jobs \u2013 including those who produced stories about the arts \u2013 went away. But then an interesting thing happened. After experimenting with numerous schemes \u2013 micro-payments, aggregation, crowdfunding, paywalls, even events, a couple of very smart publications figured out something. The New York Times, which for the first several years of the digital age even had separate digital and traditional paper newsrooms, figured out that it needed to be a multimedia company and began experimenting with different models of digital subscriptions. The Washington Post, which had been hollowed to a shell of its former self, was bought by Jeff Bezos, who had his Amazon platform geniuses remake the entire digital product, and The Atlantic Magazine, sold to a new visionary owner, figured out a niche that subscribers piled into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A decade on and the New York Times \u2013 which at its peak circulation in the old physical paper era had a daily circulation of about 1.1 million give or take, now has an astonishing 9.5 million subscribers, and with 1,400 journalists, the biggest newsroom in its history. The Post and The Atlantic are similarly profitable and are very much better products than they have been in a long time. Though all three still have advertising, subscriptions now make up most of the revenue. In one generation, these legacy businesses transformed themselves from one model to another, more successful one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now there are caveats \u2013 this makeover has not yet reached down the food chain to many other publications. Local newspapers \u2013 journalism of all sorts &#8212; has been decimated over the past couple decades. Subscriptions have not made up the gap in the drop of advertising for most publications. <strong>B<\/strong>ut I think there are reasons for this, three main ones, actually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>A greatly diminished product. Squeezed by the advertising revenue loss, it\u2019s inescapable that the news product has declined \u2013 fewer reporters and editors and less coverage.<\/li><li>The user experience isn\u2019t great. Annoying ads and pop-ups, constant reminders to subscribe, paywalls, outdated designs and design that fails to compete with the big tech platforms. And\u2026<\/li><li>The user experience \u2013 as opposed to the core product itself &#8212; isn\u2019t fun, it isn\u2019t easy, it isn\u2019t delightful.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The Times produces some of the best journalism out there, but it has also added Wordle and Wirecutter and podcasts and games and recipes etc. The Atlantic has added a festival, does live events, and leans heavily into its various expert personalities. Other publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and the Daily Beast have all found ways to be excellent, fun and above all, easy to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, so that was a long digression, but let\u2019s get back to the arts. The arts subscription model in the old days when it worked was essentially a bulk sales model. Buy our whole season and we\u2019ll give you a discount to make it worth it. But when times were good, maybe you didn\u2019t get that discount. Maybe it was enough of an enticement that you got your preferred seats or first choice on selecting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what pro sports teams do when they\u2019re popular. In cities with hot teams where tickets sell out, it\u2019s often not enough to buy tickets for all the season, you also buy something called \u201ca seat license\u201d usually an expensive fee for the PRIVILEGE of shelling out thousands for the season ticket. When you decide to stop buying season tickets there\u2019s presumably a market to sell your license. But this only works when your team is hugely popular, and usually then, when you\u2019re opening a new stadium or arena that everyone wants to get into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But most arts franchises aren\u2019t in that position. And \u2013 unless you\u2019re selling out show after show, buying a subscription ticket is no longer a hedge, it\u2019s a risk \u2013 maybe you might not want to see a particular show in a series you bought, maybe there\u2019s something else that came up that night you like better, maybe you catch covid and can\u2019t go. Or maybe it\u2019s just easier to stay home and watch a movie on Netflix\u2026 The point is \u2013 for the average consumer, a series subscription in a marketplace vying for our attention is more risk than reward. And besides- given the world as it is now, if I wait, I\u2019ll probably be able to get a ticket if I walk up to the box office on the day of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this is thinking in the bulk sales model. Today\u2019s subscription models are so much more sophisticated and nuanced. Some people subscribe because they want aggravations to go away \u2013 like the ads on a website, for example. Some people subscribe because they want convenience \u2013 like aggregating of content or a newsletter that distills down something bigger. Some people subscribe because they want access \u2013 I don\u2019t know what movies or music I\u2019m going to want until you make it easy for me to see it all. Some people subscribe because they want a guide, a curator, an expert to hold their hand as they explore. Some people just want the ability to explore and be introduced to new things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volvo lets you buy a subscription to their cars that bundles insurance, licensing, maintenance and repairs and even replacement when it\u2019s time to trade in. Blue Apron will send you meals every week based on your preferences. Everything \u2013 even the spices and garnishes \u2013 arrives in discreet packages with picture-book instructions. All these subscriptions are meant to delight you, to make the experience of whatever it is as important as the thing itself. It\u2019s entertainment, it\u2019s surprise, it\u2019s comfort, it\u2019s convenience, it\u2019s all about making the subscriber better in some way and making it fun in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But getting back to the arts. In the arts, subscriptions still largely operate in the bulk sales model. If I learned one thing when I started ArtsJournal, it\u2019s that it\u2019s a mistake to build your business model around one thing. And as I said earlier, the inducement to buy an arts subscription often doesn\u2019t make the buyer more secure, it actually introduces risk \u2013 that not all the shows are great, that the subscriber might not be able to go to everything. Risk. And that\u2019s not inducement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So some ideas? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>First \u2013 how about a transaction platform that works with the ease of Amazon so transactions can be processed in a click or two. <\/li><li>How about if I subscribe I get access to other things that might be valuable to me \u2013 When Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, he had Amazon offer Post subscriptions at a discount. If you were a subscriber to a local newspaper you could get a free or discounted subscription to the Post. <\/li><li>If I\u2019m a subscriber, how about offering me access to other music or theatre or dance by partner organizations. <\/li><li>Or access to web streaming of the artist I\u2019m paying to come see in person at the show in Portland the night before. <\/li><li>How about a team of subscriber concierge\/curators who get to know subscribers and offers them personal suggestion based on their tastes? One of Netflix\u2019s superpowers and most valuable assets, is its suggestion algorithm that learns your viewing history and makes suggestions based on it.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the disruptions that brought about what has been considered the Golden Age of TV\/streaming, is the online chat services and forums where fans get to obsessively dish and dissect the shows they\u2019re watching. One of the internet\u2019s most popular classical music sites is Norman Lebrecht\u2019s Slipped Disc, which began life here on ArtsJournal. Most classical music fans I know, regularly check out. Why? It offers news in the industry, sure. But it\u2019s catty. Cheeky. Gossipy, rude and fun. Readers are addicted because it makes fans visible around things they really really care about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I recently started listening to the sports radio station in Seattle. I\u2019ve always been a casual sports fan, but decided after a number of years of not really keeping up that I\u2019d try to get back into the teams again. On the local sports station, they talk sports 24\/7 \u2013 opinion after opinion after opinion. Analysing, endless conjecture, confessions of pet passions and hates. It\u2019s really fun to listen to people who have passion about what they follow. And not just one person\u2019s opinion, but many. And they duke it out and try to convince one another. By the time you actually get to the ball park or see a game on TV you know what to look for, to see what matters. And you start to have the big opinions yourself, and you care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now compare this to what the public sees in the arts. There\u2019s maybe one critic in town, and little debate. Even if you\u2019re a fan of your local orchestra or theatre, you probably don\u2019t know much about how the sausage is put together. So how are you supposed to care? Of course you care about the music or the play. But those are commodities, things you buy tickets to. A retail transaction. Subscriptions are something you invest in, that make you feel part of something, that change your life in some way \u2013 whether it\u2019s new food, unlimited movies, or access to the pool you like to swim in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a reason Netflix doesn\u2019t sell access to movies one-at-a-time. That rental cars no longer charge by the mile, that internet providers don\u2019t charge by the minute. We like predictable pricing. We like convenience, ease. We like unlimited usage. We like control. We like choice. And we like to feel that we\u2019re getting a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s Netflixes and Ubers have figured that out and fashioned a subscription bundle that works. The arts? I\u2019m sorry, but with some notable exceptions, subscriptions are still just retail transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard on this podcast, please click the like, share and subscribe buttons. If you have any suggestions of comments, please send an email to <a href=\"mailto:theundertow@artsjournal.com\">theundertow@artsjournal.com<\/a>. I read every one. I\u2019m Doug McLennan. Back next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it the subscription model that\u2019s not working or is it the way the arts do subscriptions? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-business","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/internet-g9c37e8faa_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C782&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-Fx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2011\/12\/liquid-content.html","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":0},"title":"Are you a Channel or are you a Library?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"TV used to be an appointment medium. It's Thursday night at 8 and you're in front of the set watching or else you missed your favorite show. Then VCR's, DVD's and DVR's progressively pecked away at the appointment schedule. Many of us now wait till a show has aired and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;culture business models&quot;","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/the_big_newspaper_e-reader_gam.html","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":1},"title":"The Big Newspaper E-Reader Gamble","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Several new large-format e-readers are about to go on sale. Newspaper execs are excited:These devices from Amazon and other manufacturers offer an almost irresistible proposition to newspaper and magazine industries. They would allow publishers to save millions on the cost of printing and distributing their publications, at precisely a time\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2368,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2020\/05\/parlez-vous-screen-online-arts-and-other-considerations.html","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":2},"title":"Parlez-Vous Screen? (online arts and other considerations)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"May 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"So your workplace has shut down (your theatre, concert hall museum, stage, whatever). Now what? Moving online is the obvious play. And in the weeks since lockdown there has been a flood of artists going online, making content for the web or repackaging performances that have already taken place. 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New Arts Journalism? Accountable Algorithms?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"November 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: Record ticket sales at the Chicago Symphony but still a budget problem...Wall Street Journal cuts arts coverage and Boston Globe gets a subsidized critic...Why did Shakespeare's Globe fire its director?...Two cities on opposite sides of a border, share common arts culture... Who will hold intelligent machines accountable? An\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weekly AJ Top Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/thompson.jpg?fit=500%2C271&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2771,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2024\/03\/how-subsidy-for-big-tech-wrecked-the-arts-and-journalism.html","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":4},"title":"How Subsidy for Big Tech Wrecked the Arts (and Journalism)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Apple and Google have subsidized what they offer (super-cheap or free content, faster service and better accessibility) to capture audience and attention in ways that have played havoc with culture producers and artists everywhere, whether or not they create on any of these platforms.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;arts &amp; tech&quot;","block_context":{"text":"arts &amp; tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/seo-441400_1280-1.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1151,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/some-of-our-orchestras-seem-to-be-thriving-is-this-a-new-trend.html","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":5},"title":"Some Of Our Orchestras Seem To Be Thriving &#8211; Is This A New Trend?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There's been a change in the news coming out of symphony orchestras over the past summer. Usually there's a background drumbeat of struggle as orchestras fight to stay alive. But for months now, the beat has shifted, and we're hearing about orchestras that are not only surviving but thriving. 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