Massive Software creates hordes of fantasy armies using Artificial Intelligence and in doing so it has changed the fantasy entertainment game. Their realism is largely due to fuzzy logic, a “way to create naturalistic and subtle behavior” that human viewers will interpret as realistic and powerful. This combined with emergent technology offers a wide array of opportunity for creators.
Jazz Artists and the Business of Music: Digital Collaborations and Live Streaming
Throughout history, jazz has been on the cutting edge of social and cultural change. It has always represented a means of freedom and self-expression in both the brightest and darkest of times. Jazz artists have historically pushed the boundaries of their own genre, as well as others. How does the genre continue to transform in the digital age?
AI in Spotify’s New ‘AI DJ’
While Spotify has been a frontrunner in the AI field for a decade, its increased infusion of AI into its algorithmic content suggestions has put it into the spotlight with its ‘AI DJ.’ Consumers return again and again to Spotify largely for its enhanced personalization that few other streaming platforms can match. While AI is central to that personalization, it hasn’t surfaced without baggage and some consumer retaliation. It is also worth considering how this technology will further perpetuate algorithmic biases that disproportionately affect Black musicians.
Multilingual Technology for Global Entertainment: A Case Study of Netflix
2022 Top 10 Articles
Every year we review our analytics to highlight what you, our readers, have found the most compelling. In 12 short months, we have witnessed waves of new technology erupt onto the marketplace, like OpenAI’s Dall-e, and others tumble into chaos, most notably cryptocurrency. The top 10 show how YOU have followed the change.
The Challenge to Keep Millennials and Gen Z Interested in Long-Form, High Quality Content: Part One
Millennial and Gen Z consumers have forever altered the entertainment landscape. Shifts in their viewing habits are being motivated by a sense of community, increasingly short attention spans, and pragmatic decision-making spurred by coming of age in a digital and internet-driven environment. To fulfill these motivations, they have increasingly turned their attention to short-form content. this article offers insights on how and why Gen Z and Millennial consumers watch content.
Managing Privacy, Identity, And Virtual Worlds In Video Games: Part Two
Managing Privacy, Identity, and Virtual Worlds in Video Games: Part One
The video gaming business is now a world-leading entertainment industry with nearly 180 billion U.S. dollars in market value (Statista, 2021). As more private information and in-game data are collected and utilized to support gaming, it may also threaten the safety of gamers' privacy. Therefore, it is essential for gaming companies to understand the business implications of collecting and using gamers’ private information. There have been studies that take account of the privacy landscape across industries, but privacy in the gaming industry remains less examined given its complexity and rapid recent growth.
Spotify's Algorithm: Helping or Hurting Musicians?
The year is 1870, 7 years before the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison. As a musical artist, if you wanted to distribute your content to an audience, you did so through sheet music, either painstakingly copied by hand, or if you were lucky, replicated on some kind of a printing press. Music distribution has come a long way since then. Artists can upload music to platforms like TikTok or YouTube with the click of a button. But how has this changed the industry?
The most prolific way that people engaged with music in 2020 was streaming platforms, of which, Spotify continues to be the most popular. Even though it’s easier than ever for artists to upload content to a large audience, the question remains, are personalization algorithms and streaming services through Spotify harming or helping musical artists?
An Analysis of the Top 50 Webtoons on Webtoon Canvas
Naver Webtoon, introduced in “Hallyu 3.0: The Webtoon Takeover,” is the world’s leading webcomics reading application with over 72 million monthly users. Much like Youtube and Spotify, Webtoon manages a user-generated content platform featuring the works of over 130,000 amateur and professional cartoonists. Comics that are uploaded to Webtoon’s user-generated content section, Webtoon Canvas, and have at least 1,000 subscribers and 40,000 monthly page views earn a 50% share of Webtoon’s advertising revenue. Webtoon offers additional payout opportunities including a creator rewards program and their Original Series publishing program that offers exclusive rights publishing contracts and promotion through the platform. This article returns to the question posed in the previous article: How to content generators incorporate Webtoon into their professional practice and to what measures of success?
Hallyu 3.0: The Webtoon Take Over
The comics industry is undergoing a digital revolution without the forces of giant publishers Marvel or DC. It is being led by big tech, big-data, and its intermediation between audiences and individual creators. At the center of this global revolution is a popular app: Webtoon. Webtoon currently outpaces its competitors by an order of magnitude with 50 million+ downloads in the United States.
Declining Super Bowl Viewership: Will it Maintain Most-Watched Event of the Year?
While the Super Bowl has managed to remain the most-watched live event of the year, it has not managed to maintain its robust viewership numbers in the age of cord-cutting and media saturation. Despite the trend of lower viewership, there is one instance that raises audience interest, but it remains outside of the NFL’s direct control: too-close-to-call games. Thus, there is the possibility that viewership has decreased simply due to an increase in uninteresting games in the past few years. If there’s anything the many close games this past football season, and subsequent increase in viewership, can teach us, it’s that viewers enjoy watching competitions that are truly anyone’s game.
Using VR & AR in Live Music
Virtual Reality technology puts the user in a computer-generated environment, allowing them to interact with simulated elements via a headset. On the other hand, Augmented reality incorporates elements that are generated, be it visual, audio, or other sensory elements into the real world via technology. AR technology lets the user position his or her smartphone to a point in the physical world and bring it to life by adding virtual components via this technology.
Expanding our Live Streaming Future: Refining and Developing New Arts & Entertainment Experiences
Livestreaming has become a burgeoning global industry, recording eight billion hours of content watched in the last quarter of 2020 (May, 2021). This research projects examines the industry before the COVID-19 pandemic, how it evolved during the pandemic, and its future opportunities. From October to December 2020, over eight billion combined hours of content were watched as livestreams on the top three largest platforms, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live (May, 2021). Using data from industry leader interviews, a national survey, and case studies the team reveals the power and current technology limitations to livestreaming for the live entertainment industry.
2021 Top 10 Most-Read Articles
As we welcome 2022 for myriad reasons, be sure to catch up on what you missed in 2021 by reading out top 10 most read articles. Surprisingly (or not), while the last year continued to show interest in covid’s impact on technology and work, our readers were curious about a broad set of content — from NFTs to using technology to track dance. Which of these articles did you read, or miss?
The State of Trust: Consumers and Transparency in the Entertainment Industry
The business of trust is complicated. The topics of trust, authenticity, and transparency have emerged as what consumers expect from businesses today (MultiVu - PR Newswire, 2020). This study looks at the entertainment industry and how these topics are central to the relationship between media and entertainment companies and consumers. Findings reveal simple but pivotal changes businesses can make to succeed.
A Path for Greater Diversity in Film Festivals
Film festivals are an essential part of the movie industry, as they provide opportunities for creators to garner recognition and to secure distribution for their films. However, there is a lack of racial representation and inclusion in the entertainment industry that prevents filmmakers of color from having the same opportunities as their White counterparts.
This study analyzes the current state of diversity and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color within film festivals in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Assumptions behind the research are that with meaningful change implemented to increase racial diversity in festivals’ programming staff there will be a selection of more diverse film directors. This report consists of parts:
Interviews focused on filmmakers and film festival programmers. These are used to reveal common trends from personal experiences regarding diversity within film festivals
Analysis of a survey of film festival attendees conducted to understand their perceptions of diversity and inclusion in festivals’ lineup and programming staff
Streaming Service Algorithms are Biased, Directly Affecting Content Development
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was a big year for the entertainment industry. Many entertainment corporations reevaluated their approach to content distribution and accessibility for viewers. It is increasingly clear that streaming services will continue to exert evolutionary change on the entertainment industry. Regardless of the questions and problems posed about the algorithms used by streaming services, Netflix and other dominant platforms will continue to use them – and continue to work on optimizing the algorithm to eliminate at least the most egregious biases. It is up to the industry to hold itself accountable and ensure that the sanctity of the art of TV and film over the algorithm-based entertainment world.
How Video Games Can Serve as an Engagement Experience
The expansion of technology has enabled a wide array artistic growth in innumerable forms - often taking a life or genre of its own. One artistic form that has dominated the market since technology has become common in society is video games. The materials below serve as introductory infographics for arts organizations, detailing core considerations and a streamlined video game planning process. Additionally, it lists common employees needed to conduct video game production, common engines and coding languages used and their learning difficulty levels, so that arts organizations can jumpstart their gaming creations of their already-mastered craft.