More people watch live streams on Twitch than on any other digital platform, including YouTube and Facebook, according to a report from StreamElements. But the platform has struggled to police content as it is posted. – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Language Frames How We Think About Things. But Changing That Language Can Backfire
When a linguistic shift is too heavy-handed, too obviously driven by an agenda to change hearts and minds, it can run up against a response known as reactance. Reactance is our mind’s instinctive defense against the attempts of others to control our thoughts and behavior. – Nautilus
Surprise: For The First Time Since 1986, Vinyl Is About To Outsell CDs
Vinyl records earned $224.1 million (on 8.6 million units) in the first half of 2019, closing in on the $247.9 million (on 18.6 million units) generated by CD sales. Vinyl revenue grew by 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019, while the revenue from CDs barely budged. If these trends hold, records will soon be generating more money than compact discs. – Rolling Stone
The Met Opera’s New “Porgy”: Restoring An American Masterpiece
Joseph Horowitz: “The modernist view of Gershwin the gifted dilettante is no longer heard. Concomitantly, American music historians, for whom Gershwin once barely existed, have flocked to Porgy and Rhapsody in Blue. A burgeoning interest in the interwar fate of black classical music will surely promote new understandings of Gershwin as a necessary interloper between “classical” and “popular” genres severed by 20th-century aesthetic currents.” – American Scholar
The Problem With Museums That Try To Tell The Story Of Classical Music
Classical music institutions have a built-in challenge in trying to arrange exhibits for the public: Their default archival documents tend to be just the kind of dusty memento the stereotype is describing. – Washington Post
Tyshawn Sorey And The Dawning Of Musical Consciousness
“Besides the physical notation, the sheet of paper or whatever, there’s also the psychological notation. That should also be there—where you can deal with the music on a real level. Whether it’s notated on paper or not. You’re still in the room and you’re still in the music.” – NewMusicBox
Advancing Philosophy Comes In Clarifying Existing Ideas
“It is no triviality to define analytic philosophy. Broadly, it combines a faith in formal logic as a tool for eliminating philosophical confusion with an almost unquestioned, at least in recent decades, belief in its own status as continuous with the natural sciences.” – The Point
Mona Lisa Returns To Its Regular Refurbished Gallery
The Louvre attracts 10.2 million people a year with about 80 per cent believed to come just to see the Mona Lisa. In July, officials had to restrict access for three days because of the chaos caused by the queues. – The Telegraph (UK)
Facebook Would Pay $40 Million For Falsely Inflating Video Metrics
The suit accused Facebook of acknowledging miscalculations in metrics upon press reports, but still not taking responsibility for the breadth of the problem. “The average viewership metrics were not inflated by only 60%-80%; they were inflated by some 150 to 900%,” stated an amended complaint. – The Hollywood Reporter
Why Are Streaming Companies Paying Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars For Old TV Shows?
These pricey deals for what is essentially digital reruns have, like the Seinfeld syndication deal two decades ago, raised eyebrows. Why are streaming companies willing to pay so much for shows of nostalgic value? And as numerous companies prepare to launch their own streaming services – HBO Max and Peacock, not to mention the forthcoming Apple TV+ – why bet on the appeal of legacy TV shows? – The Guardian