Celebrity
Spotify’s Big Bet on Harry and Meghan Fell Flat
When Spotify signed Prince Harry and and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to an exclusive deal worth allegedly $20 million in 2020, the controversial royal couple was taking their first steps into the business world, and podcasts were thriving.
Some believe that Prince Harry and Meghan’s brand has diminished, and Spotify is lowering its reliance on major celebrity signings and expensive original content, which have hurt on its financial line.
Meghan’s podcast was one of the most high-profile losses this week when Spotify and the duke and duchess’ Archewell Audio announced a mutual decision to separate ways.
Spotify’s contract with Barack and Michelle Obama’s production firm expired last year.
Since then, Spotify has laid off hundreds of employees, primarily in its podcasting operation, which it acquired for more than $400 million just a few years ago.
During a conference call with financial analysts earlier this year, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the company made some mistakes during the more than $1 billion spending spree that preceded its 2019 effort to establish itself as an industry leader.
“You are correct in pointing out overpaying and over-investing,” he stated.
“We’re going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals,” he added. “Obviously, we will not renew those that aren’t performing.”
“And the ones that are performing, obviously, we will look at those on a case-by-case basis in terms of relative value.”
Rogan a Spotify Success
Spotify definitely has the appetite for some high-priced collaborations. It rebuffed requests last year to cut relations with its contentious star, Joe Rogan, who reportedly paid $200 million in 2020 in exchange for giving the streamer exclusive listening rights.
However, Mr. Rogan’s show features numerous multi-hour episodes each week, with an estimated audience of 11 million people.
Meghan, on the other hand, only released 12 episodes of her Archetypes podcast last year.
The Sussexes and Spotify were “proud” of the material they created together, according to the joint statement announcing the divorce.
And a slew of awards demonstrated why.
Archetypes’ debut last year topped Spotify’s rankings in six countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Meghan’s show, in which she interviewed other celebrities like as Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, and Mindy Kaling, was also nominated for a People’s Choice Award.
However, crisis communications expert Mark Borkowski believes the show was not compelling enough when Spotify evaluated the figures.
“It’s always about the content…. Clearly, there hasn’t been a big enough audience for it,” he says. “No one will pay you if you don’t deliver your fee.”
According to Mr Borkowski, there is little doubt that the duke and duchess still have media value. However, it may no longer be what it once was.
Prince Harry and Meghan’s popularity in decline
According to a Newsweek poll conducted earlier this year, the couple’s popularity in the United States has decreased as a result of the marketing blitz around their Netflix documentary series and the publishing of Harry’s book, Spare. “The more Prince Harry and Meghan say, the less Americans like them,” read the headline in Newsweek.
Mr Borkowski said the duo will have to “think hard” about what they can provide in whatever they do next after they step down as working royals in 2020.
“It’s a thread that’s been pulled out of the brand,” he says of Spotify’s demise. “If they want to keep it from unraveling, they’ll have to think really hard.” The greatest question is whether they will learn from this loss or dismiss it as a blip.”
This Thursday, a representative for the duchess’s new Hollywood talent agency informed the Wall Street Journal, “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.”
According to Max Willens, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, Spotify is not the only tech behemoth that has spent lavishly in recent years to attract talent who has failed to deliver on the promise implied by the money they were paid.
Those high days came to an end last year, as economic mood deteriorated and market prices fell.
However, Spotify shares are up nearly 90% this year as investors embrace Mr Ek’s promises to remain focused on “efficiency.” Spotify continues to acquire users and has seen its podcast repertoire grow to more than five million.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “Fucking Grifters
This month, the corporation announced the “next phase” of its podcasting business, indicating that it will welcome lower-cost, third-party artists while increasing investment in “always on” programming.
“The platforms that have gotten into [podcasting] had to take some time to figure out what constituted a good investment,” adds Mr Willens. He describes Spotify’s choice to cut ways with the Duke and Duchess as a “understandable and natural part of that process.”
“Those were big, big deals designed to create buzz and grab headlines, and they succeeded.” The question is whether they make excellent long-term economic sense.”
Meanwhile, Bill Simmons, the Ringer creator and Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and marketing, recently called Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “fucking grifters” on his podcast. Simmons’ remarks come after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced on Thursday that their production company, Archewell, had terminated connections with the audio company. In 2020, the pair signed a $20 million agreement with Spotify.
“‘The Fucking Grifters,'” says one. “That’s the podcast we should’ve started with them,” Simmons said on his self-titled programme. “I need to get drunk one night and tell Harry about the Zoom I had with him to help him come up with a podcast idea.” It’s one of my favourite stories.”
Simmons’ Ringer was sold to the audio platform for $196 million in 2020, propelling Simmons to a leadership position at Spotify.
In the January 2022 broadcast of his podcast, the podcaster also chastised the pair, saying, “Shoot this guy to the sun… I’m sick of this guy. What brings he to the table? He just whines about shit and continues to give interviews. Who gives a damn? Who is interested in your life? You weren’t even the preferred son.”
“You live in fucking Montecito and you just sell documentaries and podcasts, and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family and just complain about them,” Simmons continued.
Darlington said police pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs.
“Scheffler was then walked over to the police car, placed in the back, in handcuffs, very stunned about what was happening, looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said, ‘Please help me,’” Darlington said. “He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation. It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”
Scheffler was released by police and returned to the course at 9:12 a.m. Around 9:30 a.m., he arrived at the practice area to the cheers of fans; one yelled “Free Scottie!” and more followed later wearing “Free Scottie” T-shirts.
Scheffler seemed normal, relaxed, sharing a few laughs on the driving range.
“I was never angry. I was just in shock,” Scheffler said. “I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
He could see from a TV in the jail that tee times were pushed back 1 hour, 20 minutes because of the traffic situation, and realized when an officer knocked on the door and said, “Let’s go,” that he had a chance to play.
He made birdie on his first hole of the day after sticking his approach shot to 3 feet.
Darlington, the ESPN reporter, said police were initially unsure who Scheffler was. He said an officer asked him to leave, and when he identified himself as being with the media, he was told, “There’s nothing you can do. He’s going to jail.”
Darlington said another police officer later approached with a notepad and asked if he knew the name of the person they put in handcuffs.
Scheffler said he never told police who he was except to say, “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get to my tee time.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
Louisville police have attracted negative national attention in recent years after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020 and a federal investigation into its policing practices.
A Department of Justice report released last year said Louisville officers use excessive force and conduct searches based on invalid warrants. The report said Black motorists in Louisville were more likely to be searched during traffic stops, and officers used neck restraints, police dogs and Tasers against people who posed no imminent threat.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot by officers who had come to her apartment with a warrant that federal officials later said was falsified.
PGA of America, which runs the PGA Championship, offered sympathies for Mills’ family and said, “As it relates to the incident involving Scottie Scheffler, we are fully cooperating as local authorities review what took place.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
Scheffler has won four of his last five tournaments, including his second Masters title. He has been home in Dallas the last three weeks, waiting for the birth of his first child, a son born May 8.
Scheffler is trying to become only the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year.
SOURCE – (AP)
CANNES, France — The Cannes Film Festival began Tuesday with the announcement of Greta Gerwig’s jury and the giving of an honorary Palme d’Or to Meryl Streep, as the French Riviera spectacle started its possibly tumultuous 77th edition.
The opening night picture, “The Second Act,” a French comedy starring Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard, will usher in a 10-day parade of stars down Cannes’ iconic red carpet. During the opening ceremony, Streep will get her honorary Palme.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
In the coming days, Cannes will debut George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed “Megalopolis,” and anticipated new films from Paolo Sorrentino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold, and Kevin Costner.
However, much of this year’s Cannes controversy has occurred off-screen.
French actor Judith Godrèche accused two film directors of rape and sexual assault when she was a teenager earlier this year, and the French film industry has been grappling with probably its defining #MeToo moment since. Godrèche’s short film “Moi Aussi” will premiere on Wednesday.
When asked about #MeToo’s expansion in France, Gerwig told reporters in Cannes on Tuesday that it is progressing.
“I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good,” Gerwig stated. “I’ve witnessed significant shift in the American cinema scene, and I believe it’s critical that we continue to broaden that conversation. So I believe it’s only advancing things in the right direction. Keep the lines of communication open.”
Gerwig, fresh off the success of “Barbie,” is president of the jury that will decide Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or. Thierry Fremaux commended her on Monday as “the ideal director” for Cannes, citing her ability to work in both arthouse and studio films and her passion for movie history. And, “We very much liked ‘Barbie.'”
Gerwig is joined on the jury by Lily Gladstone, star of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” French actor Eva Green, Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, French actor Omar Sy, Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
The jurors were asked how the numerous real-world concerns outside the festival would influence their decision-making. One film in competition, Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice,” portrays Sebastian Stan as a youthful Donald Trump. And Labaki was asked if she was thinking about the war in Gaza.
“I truly believe that one of the tools to really change something in the situation we all live in right now, which is a situation I think is not that great, is really through art and through cinema,” Labaki stated. “It may propose a more tolerant way of seeing things and seeing each other as human beings.”
“This is why I decided that I could be here without feeling guilty as a human being,” stated Favino. “Because if we look for beauty, then we might look for peace.”
Other fears are circulating this year’s Cannes. Festival workers, frustrated with short-term contracts that make them ineligible for unemployment benefits between events, have threatened to strike.
On Monday, Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof, whose film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” will be shown in competition at Cannes next week, said that he had escaped Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging. The film is described as a scathing depiction of the Iranian regime.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
As Cannes continues, many will be fixated on the celebs who walk the festival’s iconic red carpet. Emma Stone, Anya Taylor-Joy, Demi Moore, Selena Gomez, Nicolas Cage, and Barry Keoghan will be among the cast. George Lucas will be presented with an honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony on May 25.
Regardless, the 77th Cannes Film Festival will have many expectations to meet. Last year’s festival, which was universally praised for its impressive roster, yielded three Oscar best picture nominees: “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” To help reignite last year’s spirit, Messi, the canine hero of “Anatomy of a Fall,” has returned to Cannes for a series of quick French TV advertisements.
A successful Cannes will help France maintain the global spotlight throughout the summer. The French Open, Tour de France, and Summer Olympics in Paris will all take place after the festival. On May 21, the Olympic flame will be carried to the Palais des Festivals, the festival’s focal point.
SOURCE – (AP)
NEW YORK — Actor Steve Buscemi is well after being hit in the face by a man on a New York City street, his publicist confirmed Sunday.
The 66-year-old star of “Fargo” and “Boardwalk Empire” was beaten late Wednesday morning in Manhattan and transported to a local hospital for bruises, swelling, and bleeding in his left eye.
Deadline – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city,” according to a statement from his publicist on Sunday. “He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes.”
The New York Post was first to report the assault.
salon – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
The New York Police Department issued a nameless statement regarding the assault on Wednesday. Steve’s representative confirmed Sunday that the anonymous assault victim in the police report was the actor.
According to the police department, no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
The Guardian – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
Michael Stuhlbarg, Buscemi’s “Boardwalk Empire” co-star, was hit in the back of the neck by a rock while walking in Manhattan’s Central Park on March 31. Stuhlbarg chased his attacker, who was apprehended outside the park.
SOURCE – (AP)
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
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