Arts Intelligence Report
Unpacking news in the industry —powered with a touch of creative mischief.
It’s been a busy week of traveling, and meetings across sectors (not to mention GRAMMY nominations!!). Here’s a brief look at some articles I’d like to highlight:
True Companions: The Power of TV and Film Podcasts
Tom Webster writes about the report by Owl & Company that shows that while 53 % of Americans would like podcasts tied to TV/film, only 19 % currently listen.
Moving to the live performance sector, this is an opportunity for the performing-arts sector to adopt “companion” audio content - not just a lecture about the history of a work someone is about to produce, but a deep dive about the social and cultural significance and a work to deepen audience engagement, drive loyalty and discovery, and expanding reach beyond live venues.
SoundCloud Disrupts Music Distribution: Zero Commission on Artist Royalties Starting November 2025
NJ Begonia from Midnight Rebels reports on SoundCloud’s bold new all-in-one model, launching November 2025, upends music distribution—empowering artists to release across 60+ platforms and keep every cent of their royalties. It’s a seismic shift toward creative sovereignty: a future where artists own their sound, their reach, and their revenue—no middlemen, just momentum.
Why Vinyl Still Matters: Understanding the Format That Refuses to Die - Decoded Magazine
The article explores how vinyl records persist through decades thanks to their physical tangibility, analogue sound-wave groove mechanics and ritualised listening experience. For stage-based and classical music, vinyl’s revival speaks to deeper values: the format becomes a tangible brand artifact, lending prestige to recordings, while analogue warmth adds authenticity. It offers artists and institutions a premium product, strengthens collector culture and reinforces artistic identity beyond streaming-ephemerality.
DOING IT RIGHT: Minnesota Orchestra attracts younger, engaged audience with social media focus
Kudos to the Minnesota Orchestra for brilliantly meeting younger audiences where they live — on Instagram and TikTok. Their social media manager, Alexandra Robinson, grew their Instagram from 18K to nearly 50K followers, and they hire a full-time content creator. They capture playful, behind-the-scenes moments — musicians goofing around in rehearsals, sharing “scary performance stories,” and even playing with toy bows — making the orchestra far more relatable, connecting to an intergenerational audience. This isn’t just fluff: their honest, personal content deepens engagement with longtime fans and brings in younger ticket buyers.
Bravo for being bold, accessible, and modern — classical music needs more orchestras with this kind of social spirit.
A GREAT ESCAPE: 30 years of Shawshank Redemption
I attended a screening of The Shawshank Redemption at the legendary Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood - complete with an appearance by the writer and director - Frank Darabont.
RED (V.O.)
I have no idea to this day what them two Italian ladies were singin’ about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid.
I like to think they were singin’ about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.
I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was
like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away...and for the briefest of moments — every last man at Shawshank felt free.
In The Shawshank Redemption, the moment Andy broadcasts the duet from The Marriage of Figaro becomes a rare, transcendent rupture in prison life. As the two voices soar, the incarcerated men glimpse freedom—not through escape, but through beauty. Opera becomes a brief sanctuary, suspending confinement and reminding them of their humanity.
In a hyper-productive, capitalist society, we forget to breathe. What is your Figaro moment—your radical pause, your stolen window of beauty—that lets you reclaim yourself from the systems that confine you? Are there other classical moments you recall for your radical mental escape?