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How Streaming Data Is Changing How (And What) Music Is Made

Streaming reflects what people will actually listen to on their own, when provided with infinite choices that aren’t entirely constrained by what radio programmers, retailers and record company executives put in front of them. With streaming services, “it’s more data-driven, and more give-the-people-what-they-want-driven, because it’s so limitless.”

Report: UK Theatres Passively Allow Culture Of Harassment

The report concludes that “bullying and abuses of power were seen to be prevalent” and that inappropriate behaviour can be found at “all levels” across all areas of the industry and in all genders. “There can be a passive culture of endorsing bullying. Leaders may encourage new entrants not to challenge, perpetuating the culture with statements such as ‘That’s just how they are’ or ‘We have extreme characters in our industry’,” it states.

How Orchestras Can Make Their Programming More Diverse

Derek Bermel, artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra: “I’ve spoken to several artistic administrators and conductors who insist that their audiences aren’t asking for more of the new; their internal research shows that their audience wants to hear what they already know. When I hear that argument, I think, ‘Well, of course! Audiences haven’t experienced what they don’t know, so how could they possibly be clamoring for it?’ One of the responsibilities of curators is to introduce the public to work they didn’t know existed or to help bring it into being. Five years ago, how many regular music theater patrons were yearning to see a hip-hop musical? We all know that answer: very, very few. Today it’s impossible to get tickets for Hamilton. Some of that audience is coming from outside the typical music theater audience; all the better!”

Scientific Papers Have Become Obsolete

“The more sophisticated science becomes, the harder it is to communicate results. Papers today are longer than ever and full of jargon and symbols. They depend on chains of computer programs that generate data, and clean up data, and plot data, and run statistical models on data. These programs tend to be both so sloppily written and so central to the results that it’s contributed to a replication crisis, or put another way, a failure of the paper to perform its most basic task: to report what you’ve actually discovered, clearly enough that someone else can discover it for themselves. Perhaps the paper itself is to blame.”

Employees Of Richard Meier Talk About Architect Firm’s Culture Of Helplessness

After a report last month by The New York Times detailing a pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Meier, more women have come forward to share their own upsetting encounters with him. But in recounting such experiences, these women said they had also been disturbed by a sense of helplessness that pervaded the firm. Mr. Meier’s behavior was common knowledge, they said, but no one seemed to have the power to stop it.

Even After 326 Years, No One Is Sure What To Make Of Velázquez’s ‘Las Meninas’

“An enigmatic group portrait of sorts, Las Meninas is populated by an odd cast of characters, including a princess, a nun, a dwarf, and the Baroque artist himself. A stark divergence from traditional royal portraiture, many have likened the painting to a snapshot, in the sense that it packs in a wealth of action. At the same time, close examination reveals that it doesn’t seem to follow the rules of perspective. Without clear evidence of the artist’s intentions or the wishes of his patron, viewers and historians alike are mostly left with theories and unanswerable questions. … Below, we break down what we do (and don’t) know about this inscrutable Spanish masterpiece.”