Showbiz Sandbox 430 – Taylor Swift Helps Fellow Artists With Her New Record Deal

When her current recording contract expired at Big Machine, Taylor Swift went looking for a new label. After a heated bidding war, Swift wound up at Universal Music landing a deal that allows her to retain control of her masters. Swift also demanded that if the label ever sold its share in Spotify that she get a cut. More importantly, she insisted on this for every single act in Universal’s roster.

This is especially notable because Swift is not a big player in music streaming, because she holds back her albums with a window to urge fans to purchase them instead. Unfortunately, the sales of physical albums, like vinyl LPs and CDs, is collapsing, causing many artists to get out of the habit of actually creating them. Instead, some big acts release a constant stream of singles, videos and live cuts since that’s how their fans listen to music these days.

Meanwhile the North American box office continues to chug along at 10% over last year’s tally, with a record breaking $12 billion in sight. That growth rate is keeping pace with the Chinese box office, which is up 11% this year, earning $8.1 billion thus far. Maybe the date for when China’s theatrical box office will surpass that of North America’s needs to be pushed back a year or two.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why pop stars may be headed to Broadway, how YouTube has begun showing blockbuster movies (with ads) and the winners of this year’s International Emmy Awards.

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Comscore Announces Official Worldwide Box Office Results for Weekend of November 25, 2018
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comscore-announces-official-worldwide-box-office-results-for-weekend-of-november-25-2018-300754926.html

Box Office: Netflix’s ‘Roma’ Opens Strong in Limited Release, Say Experts
www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-netflix-s-roma-opens-strong-limited-release-say-experts-1163716

China Box Office: ‘Venom’ Enjoys Spectacular $87 Million Second Weekend
https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/china-box-office-venom-spectacular-second-weekend-1203032056/

How the Oscar Race Became a Referendum on Netflix
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-oscar-race-became-a-referendum-netflix-1160629

‘Pirates’ Screenwriter Terry Rossio Apologizes for N-Word Tweet
https://variety.com/2018/dirt/news/terry-rossio-n-word-pirates-screenwriter-antivax-1203035692/

Studios Expected to Push for Early Home Release in 2019
https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/studios-movise-early-home-release-1203030705/

Legendary Says It Has “No Interest” in Investment From Saudi Fund
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/saudi-arabia-considering-700m-investment-legendary-entertainment-report-1161539

China’s Reliance on Hollywood Increases Again
http://chinafilminsider.com/headlines-from-china-chinas-reliance-on-hollywood-increases-again/

Golden Horse Awards Overshadowed by Political Controversy
http://chinafilminsider.com/headlines-from-china-golden-horse-awards-overshadowed-by-political-controversy/

China to ban citizens from attending next year’s Golden Horse Awards?
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/china-to-ban-citizens-from-attending-next-years-golden-horse-awards

MoviePass Parent Company Cancels Stock Split, Nasdaq Delisting Likely
https://variety.com/2018/film/markets-festivals/moviepass-stock-1203027617/

MoviePass Parent Lost $137 Million in Q3, May Be Unable to Raise Additional Funds
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/moviepass-q3-loss-helios-matheson-1203029622/

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – BookFilter
http://bookfilter.com/2018/05/28/my-sister-the-serial-killer/

‘Becoming’ Is Becoming 2018’s Biggest Adult Book
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/78640-becoming-is-becoming-2018-s-biggest-adult-book.html

Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” Sold More Than 1.4 Million Copies in First Week
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/media/michelle-obama-book-sales/index.html

Junot Díaz Remains on Pulitzer Board After Review of Misconduct Allegations
http://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/junot-diaz-pulitzer-board.html

The Boss is Paving the Way for Big Musicians on Broadway
https://nypost.com/2018/11/22/the-boss-is-paving-the-way-for-big-musicians-on-broadway/

International Emmy Awards: U.K.’s ‘Man In an Orange Shirt,’ Israel’s ‘Nevsu,’ Spain’s ‘Money Heist’ Among Winners
https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/international-emmy-awards-u-k-s-man-in-an-orange-shirt-wins-miniseries-1203033078/

Dungeons & Dragons Had Its Biggest Sales Year In 2017
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/dungeons-dragons-biggest-sales-year-2017

YouTube Is Now Showing Ad-Supported Hollywood Titles
https://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-starts-showing-free-hollywood-movies-ad-breaks/315631/

TBI Weekly: Spotify Re-enters the Programming Game
https://tbivision.com/2018/11/16/tbi-weekly-spotify-quietly-re-enters-the-programming-game/

Bot Network-driven Connected TV Advertising Fraud Spike Revealed
http://www.rapidtvnews.com/2018111754196/bot-network-driven-connected-tv-advertising-fraud-spike-revealed.html

‘God of War,’ ‘Red Dead Redemption II’ Tie For Most Game Awards Noms
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/game-awards-nominees-1203027128/

‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’ Top Seller of 2018, Games Have Best October in NPD Tracking History
‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’ Top Seller of 2018, Games Have Best October in NPD Tracking History

Video Games Are a Waste of Time? Not for Those With E-sports Scholarships
www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/education/learning/video-games-esports-scholarships.html

TV Ratings: CBS’ ‘Late Show’ Pulls Even with NBC’s ‘Tonight’ in Demo
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/stephen-colbert-ties-jimmy-fallon-ratings-first-time-1160871

Jerry Springer Court Show ‘Judge Jerry’ Set for Fall 2019 Launch
www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jerry-springer-court-show-judge-jerry-set-fall-2019-launch-1163728

Turner to Issue Refunds After Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson Pay Per View Event Glitch
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/turner-tiger-woods-phil-mickelson-refunds-ppv-1203035848/

Mumford & Sons Score Third No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ‘Delta’
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8486379/mumford-sons-delta-album-no1-billboard-200-chart

Sony Completes $2.3BN Deal to Acquire EMI Music Publishing
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/sony-completes-2-3bn-acquisition-of-emi-music-publishing/

Taylor Swift Leaves Big Machine, Signs New Deal With Universal Music Group
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8485629/taylor-swift-leaves-big-machine-signs-new-label-deal-universal-music

Taylor Swift Is a Punk-Rock Rebel — and She Just Proved It to the World
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/taylor-swift-is-a-punk-rock-rebel-and-she-just-proved-it-to-the-world-759230/

The Album Is in Deep Trouble – and the Music Business Probably Can’t Save it
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-album-is-in-deep-trouble-and-the-music-business-probably-cant-save-it-753795/

William Goldman, Oscar-Winning Writer of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ Dies at 87
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/william-goldman-dead-dies-butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid-1203030474/

‘Hee Haw’ Host & Legendary Country ‘Superpicker’ Roy Clark Dies at 85
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/8485225/roy-clark-dies-85-obituary

Nicolas Roeg, Director of David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth,’ Dies at 90
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nicolas-roeg-dead-david-bowie-856071

The Literary Legacy of Louis Cha
http://chinafilminsider.com/the-literary-legacy-of-louis-cha/

Ricky Jay, Gifted Magician, Actor and Author, Is Dead at 70
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/obituaries/ricky-jay-dead.html

Bernardo Bertolucci, Oscar-Winning Director of ‘The Last Emperor,’ Dies at 77
https://variety.com/2018/film/global/bernardo-bertolucci-dead-dies-director-the-last-emperor-1203036077/