That Was Entertainment

That Was Entertainment
Author: Bernard F. Dick
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2018-06-04
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1496817346

That Was Entertainment: The Golden Age of the MGM Musical traces the development of the MGM musical from The Broadway Melody (1929) through its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s and its decline in the 1960s, culminating in the notorious 1970 MGM auction when Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Charlton Heston's chariot from Ben-Hur, and Fred Astaire's trousers and dress shirt from Royal Wedding vanished to the highest bidders. That Was Entertainment uniquely reconstructs the life of Arthur Freed, whose unit at MGM became the gold standard against which the musicals of other studios were measured. Without Freed, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller, Betty Garrett, Cyd Charisse, Arlene Dahl, Vera-Ellen, Lucille Bremer, Gloria DeHaven, Howard Keel, and June Allyson would never have had the signature films that established them as movie legends. MGM's past is its present. No other studio produced such a range of musicals that are still shown today on television and all of which are covered in this volume, from integrated musicals in which song and dance were seamlessly embedded in the plot (Meet Me in St. Louis and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) to revues (The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and Ziegfeld Follies); original musicals (Singin' in the Rain, Easter Parade, and It's Always Fair Weather); adaptations of Broadway shows (Girl Crazy, On the Town, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, Brigadoon, Kismet, and Bells Are Ringing); musical versions of novels and plays (Gigi, The Pirate, and Summer Holiday); operettas (the films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy); mythico-historical biographies of composers (Johann Strauss Jr. in The Great Waltz and Sigmund Romberg in Deep in My Heart); and musicals featuring songwriting teams (Rodgers and Hart in Words and Music and Kalmar and Ruby in Three Little Words), opera stars (Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso and Marjorie Lawrence in Interrupted Melody), and pop singers (Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me). Also covered is the water ballet musical--in a class by itself--with Esther Williams starring as MGM's resident mermaid. This is a book for longtime lovers of the movie musical and those discovering the genre for the first time.

How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams

How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams
Author: Emily White
Publisher: 9giantstepsbooks
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2020-03-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9780999331620

Emily White has been at the forefront of the modern music industry throughout her career. In this book, she shares her wisdom for all musicians who want access to this information. White feels that the modern music industry is rarely, if ever, presented in order - from creation to execution or recording to release. For the first time, White has penned all of her best practices and advice for musicians looking to build a long-term career into a single book, while ensuring they aren't missing any funds owed to them along the way. As an entrepreneur, manager and consultant, White has navigated countless new platforms for musicians and presents the findings in a methodical and step by step manner. This book shows musicians how to build a career from day one, as well as how to get your career organized moving forward if it isn't your first rodeo. Early Praise for How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams: "A must-read for anyone launching a career in music or the music industry." -Hypebot "Few people I know have the experience, savvy and aptitude that Emily White brings to the table, and to a book this necessary and important, especially as this new music ecosystem really starts to take flight. So to all the artists & entrepreneurs looking to be students of the game and makers of the money, not just the music - get the book, get your mind right, and go get your hustle on." -Amaechi Uzoigwe, Manager of Run The Jewels, Founder of FourM Arts & Science "A concise and current guide to getting your ducks in a row from the woman who is steadily helping me row my ducks." -JULIA NUNES, Musician & Songwriter "In today's world, you gotta build your own career from the ground up, Emily's book gives you an excellent road map to do that." -Donald S. Passman, Author of All You Need to Know About the Music Business "Emily White continues to show the music business that having a good foundation is fundamental to success. No short cuts!" -Kevin Lyman, Warped Tour Founder & USC Professor Emily White is an entrepreneur and Founder at Collective Entertainment and #iVoted. White's career spans the entertainment industry, always putting artists and talent first, while taking care of fans a very close second. Her name graced the cover of Billboard magazine while in her 20's, with White's work additionally covered by Forbes, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, CNN, Fox Business, Vox, The Huffington Post, Pitchfork, Relix, The Fader, Pollstar, Stereogum, Alternative Press, ESPN and more. She is a regular speaker around the globe at events such as SXSW, Midem, BIGSOUND Australia, Canadian Music Week, PollstarLive!, NAMM, Music Biz, NARM, SanFran MusicTech, Between The Waves, and innumerous universities. White has served on the boards of Future of Music, Well-Dunn, CASH Music, SXSW, The David Lynch Foundation Live!, The Grammys' Education Committee, and Pandora's Artist Advisory Council. Her first book, Interning 101, was released in 2017 (9GiantStepsBooks) and is a course book at schools around the world. White is an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in Tisch School of The Arts.

Streaming, Sharing, Stealing

Streaming, Sharing, Stealing
Author: Michael D. Smith
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2017-08-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262534525

How big data is transforming the creative industries, and how those industries can use lessons from Netflix, Amazon, and Apple to fight back. “[The authors explain] gently yet firmly exactly how the internet threatens established ways and what can and cannot be done about it. Their book should be required for anyone who wishes to believe that nothing much has changed.” —The Wall Street Journal “Packed with examples, from the nimble-footed who reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, to laggards who lost empires.” —Financial Times Traditional network television programming has always followed the same script: executives approve a pilot, order a trial number of episodes, and broadcast them, expecting viewers to watch a given show on their television sets at the same time every week. But then came Netflix's House of Cards. Netflix gauged the show's potential from data it had gathered about subscribers' preferences, ordered two seasons without seeing a pilot, and uploaded the first thirteen episodes all at once for viewers to watch whenever they wanted on the devices of their choice. In this book, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how the success of House of Cards upended the film and TV industries—and how companies like Amazon and Apple are changing the rules in other entertainment industries, notably publishing and music. We're living through a period of unprecedented technological disruption in the entertainment industries. Just about everything is affected: pricing, production, distribution, piracy. Smith and Telang discuss niche products and the long tail, product differentiation, price discrimination, and incentives for users not to steal content. To survive and succeed, businesses have to adapt rapidly and creatively. Smith and Telang explain how. How can companies discover who their customers are, what they want, and how much they are willing to pay for it? Data. The entertainment industries, must learn to play a little “moneyball.” The bottom line: follow the data.

Planet Hong Kong

Planet Hong Kong
Author: David Bordwell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 4
Release: 2000
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674002135

This definitive study of Hong Kong cinema examines the work of directors such as Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Johnnie To, King Hu, and Wong Kar Wai.

Promises to Keep

Promises to Keep
Author: William W. Fisher, III
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2004
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0804763267

During the past fifteen years, changes in technology have generated an extraordinary array of new ways in which music and movies can be produced and distributed. Both the creators and the consumers of entertainment products stand to benefit enormously from the new systems. Sadly, we have failed thus far to avail ourselves of these opportunities. Instead, much energy has been devoted to interpreting or changing legal rules in hopes of defending older business models against the threats posed by the new technologies. These efforts to plug the multiplying holes in the legal dikes are failing and the entertainment industry has fallen into crisis. This provocative book chronicles how we got into this mess and presents three alternative proposals--each involving a combination of legal reforms and new business models--for how we could get out of it.

It's Not TV

It's Not TV
Author: Felix Gillette
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2022-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593296206

“A read so riveting, it's not hard to imagine watching it unfold on Sunday nights.” —The Associated Press “An incisive account that is more than a rosy victory lap for one of TV’s most influential channels.” —Eric Deggans, NPR’s “Books We Love” The inside story of HBO, the start-up company that reinvented television—by two veteran media reporters HBO changed how stories could be told on TV. The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Game of Thrones. The network’s meteoric rise heralded the second golden age of television with serialized shows that examined and reflected American anxieties, fears, and secret passions through complicated characters who were flawed and often unlikable. HBO’s own behind-the-scenes story is as complex, compelling, and innovative as the dramas the network created, driven by unorthodox executives who pushed the boundaries of what viewers understood as television at the turn of the century. Originally conceived by a small upstart group of entrepreneurs to bring Hollywood movies into living rooms across America, the scrappy network grew into one of the most influential and respected players in Hollywood. It’s Not TV is the deeply reported, definitive story of one of America’s most daring and popular cultural institutions, laying bare HBO’s growth, dominance, and vulnerability within the capricious media landscape over the past fifty years. Through the visionary executives, showrunners, and producers who shaped HBO, seasoned journalists Gillette and Koblin bring to life a dynamic cast of characters who drove the company’s creative innovation in astonishing ways—outmaneuvering copycat competitors, taming Hollywood studios, transforming 1980s comedians and athletes like Chris Rock and Mike Tyson into superstars, and in the late 1990s and 2000s elevating the commercial-free, serialized drama to a revered art form. But in the midst of all its success, HBO was also defined by misbehaving executives, internal power struggles, and a few crucial miscalculations. As data-driven models like Netflix have taken over streaming, HBO’s artful, instinctual, and humanistic approach to storytelling is in jeopardy. Taking readers into the boardrooms and behind the camera, It’s Not TV tells the surprising, fascinating story of HBO’s ascent, its groundbreaking influence on American business, technology, and popular culture, and its increasingly precarious position in the very market it created.

Blockbusters

Blockbusters
Author: Anita Elberse
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 142994532X

Why the future of popular culture will revolve around ever bigger bets on entertainment products, by one of Harvard Business School's most popular professors What's behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Entertainment, and the NFL—along with such stars as Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals? Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School's expert on the entertainment industry, has done pioneering research on the worlds of media and sports for more than a decade. Now, in this groundbreaking book, she explains a powerful truth about the fiercely competitive world of entertainment: building a business around blockbuster products—the movies, television shows, songs, and books that are hugely expensive to produce and market—is the surest path to long-term success. Along the way, she reveals why entertainment executives often spend outrageous amounts of money in search of the next blockbuster, why superstars are paid unimaginable sums, and how digital technologies are transforming the entertainment landscape. Full of inside stories emerging from Elberse's unprecedented access to some of the world's most successful entertainment brands, Blockbusters is destined to become required reading for anyone seeking to understand how the entertainment industry really works—and how to navigate today's high-stakes business world at large.

The Military-Entertainment Complex

The Military-Entertainment Complex
Author: Tim Lenoir
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018-02-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0674724984

With the rise of drones and computer-controlled weapons, the line between war and video games continues to blur. In this book, the authors trace how the realities of war are deeply inflected by their representation in popular entertainment. War games and other media, in turn, feature an increasing number of weapons, tactics, and threat scenarios from the War on Terror. While past analyses have emphasized top-down circulation of pro-military ideologies through government public relations efforts and a cooperative media industry, The Military-Entertainment Complex argues for a nonlinear relationship, defined largely by market and institutional pressures. Tim Lenoir and Luke Caldwell explore the history of the early days of the video game industry, when personnel and expertise flowed from military contractors to game companies; to a middle period when the military drew on the booming game industry to train troops; to a present in which media corporations and the military influence one another cyclically to predict the future of warfare. In addition to obvious military-entertainment titles like AmericaÕs Army, Lenoir and Caldwell investigate the rise of best-selling franchise games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and Ghost Recon. The narratives and aesthetics of these video games permeate other media, including films and television programs. This commodification and marketing of the future of combat has shaped the publicÕs imagination of war in the post-9/11 era and naturalized the U.S. PentagonÕs vision of a new way of war.