Spotify told the BBC that in the past six months, the number of UK users aged 30 and under listening to their flagship Jazz UK playlist had increased by 108%. Smaller streaming platforms such as Deezer and Amazon Music reported similar increases. The growth has been attributed to a flourishing UK scene which fuses jazz with a variety of genres.
Author: Douglas McLennan
National Record Album Day? Really?
You would never guess, from the way the album remains the centre of the musical conversation, that it is dying. Though MSM revenues are rising, album sales have halved since 2010, down last year to 45.8m physical sales and 13.8m digital sales.
Record Number Of Cable Cord Cutters
This year, the number of cord-cutters in the U.S. — consumers who have ever cancelled traditional pay-TV service and do not resubscribe — will climb 32.8%, to 33.0 million adults, according to new estimates from research firm eMarketer. That’s compared with a total of 24.9 million cord-cutters as of the end of 2017, which was up 43.6% year over year (and an upward revision from eMarketer’s previous 22 million estimate).
Alonzo King Talks About Dance And Dancers
I can use dancers like Legos, but I believe that human beings are brilliant. Science tells us now that the human body is electromagnetic energy — it is swirling in nonstop energy with billions of cells that are dying and being born in a second. That is mind-boggling. That is just the body. The other thing is uniqueness and brilliance. I’ve never met a stupid person, but I’ve met people who were blocked.
This Year’s Man Booker Prize Longlist Includes A Graphic Novel
Organizers on Tuesday announced the 13 books in the long list for the prestigious award, chosen from 171 submissions this year — the highest number of titles that has been put forward in the prize’s 50-year history.
Critics Charge Bahrain Art Fair Suffers From Mismanagement, Failure To Pay Bills
It was supposed to be Bahrain’s flagship cultural initiative, an art fair with international programming that would raise the profile of the Gulf State’s artists, diversify the economy and boost tourism. But after only three editions, Art Bahrain, now renamed Art Bahrain Across Borders, is facing accusations of unpaid invoices and chronic mismanagement from both exhibitors and former collaborators.
Forbes Pulls Article In Which Writer Argues That Amazon Should Replace Libraries
On Monday, amid growing criticism, Forbes pulled the article, releasing a statement that said, “Forbes advocates spirited dialogue on a range of topics, including those that often take a contrarian view. Libraries play an important role in our society. This article was outside of this contributor’s specific area of expertise, and has since been removed.”
What Orwell Knew: We’d Be Eaten By Our Screens
What’s most striking about the telescreen’s ubiquity is how right and how wrong Orwell was about our technological present. Screens are not just a part of life today: they are our lives. We interact digitally so often and in such depth that it’s hard for many of us to imagine (or remember) what life used to be like. And now, all that interaction is recorded.
St. Louis Rep Gets A New Artistic Director
Hana S. Sharif has been named artistic director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. She will succeed Steven Woolf, who is retiring at the end of the 2018-19 season after more than 30 years in the position. Currently, Sharif is associate artistic director at Baltimore Center Stage, where she has directed productions including “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Christians” and “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.”
Christie’s Turns In Record Half-Year Sales Of £2.97 Billion
Numbers were up across all three selling platforms. Private sales, which dropped by 32% in 2017, saw the biggest increase (up 135% to £287m) followed by online-only auction sales, which grew 40% to £27.7m. Auction sales rose 20% to £2.65bn. Sell-through rates averaged 84% by lot, compared with 81% last year.