Top News:
Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
Google plans a November policy update requiring election advertisers to prominently disclose when their ads contain generative AI-based images, video, or audio — Audio, images and video on political advertising will need to be labeled … The policy update, which applies starting mid-November …
Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:
Ghostwriter, the anonymous creator who used AI to mimic Drake and The Weeknd, has met with record labels, Grammy organizers, and more, and releases a new song — The anonymous artist, who stirred conversation with the A.I. track “Heart on My Sleeve,” has been quietly consulting with executives, while also gunning for a Grammy.
Discussion:
Billboard, Engadget, The Verge, Variety, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, UPROXX, Futurism, The Fader, Consequence, TMZ.com, Forbes, Deadline, The Messenger and ET Canada
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: WBD plans to add live sports to Max at no extra cost for a limited time later in 2023, and start charging a sports fee likely in February or March 2024 — Customers will need to pay an additional amount for sports starting next year, likely around February or March, said the people …
Discussion:
The Verge, Sports Media Watch, Awful Announcing, Front Office Sports, @bristei, @bristei, The Desk, @bristei, The Streamable, Reuters, The Messenger and Cord Cutters News
Lane Brown / Vulture:
How Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, an important metric in entertainment, became erratic and reductive as some PR firms hack its score by paying obscure “critics” — In 2018, a movie-publicity company called Bunker 15 took on a new project: Ophelia, a feminist retelling of Hamlet starring Daisy Ridley.
Discussion:
Screen Rant, @samuelaadams, @projectseestra, @huginspl, IGN, @_zeets, @leask, @sicrook, @milkman__dead, @mikeryan, @tomilaffly, @luke_winkie, @nathanpester, @chrisecrowley, @stevenrosenthal …, @moviedeathblows, @hamrahrama, ComingSoon.net, @seanmburns, @mattzeitlin, @boringdrew, @ipreferpi314, @sonnybunch, @nick_field90, @walthickey, SlashFilm, @katiewalshstx, @beatonna, @themanfromrio2, The Wrap and IndieWire
Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge:
Some small independent publishers struggle after Amazon ended Kindle Periodicals on September 4; Fantasy Magazine said its last issue will be in October 2023 — I like short stories. I read them, and I write them. I grew up subscribing to and reading The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction …
Discussion:
@unwiredben@nycr.social, Fantasy MagazineRSS and MediaPost
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
How the NFL conquered Hollywood via $110B in deals for exclusive live games with broadcasters and streamers, producing scripted and unscripted content, and more — To the tune of $110 billion, the league has shrewdly leveraged the fact that media — whether NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN or Amazon and YouTube …
Discussion:
@alexweprin, @alexweprin, Barrett Media and New York Magazine
Jay Peters / The Verge:
YouTube is dropping some YouTube Studio ad controls, limiting creators' control over pre-roll, post-roll, skippable, and non-skippable ads starting in November — YouTube is making some notable changes to the ad controls available to creators. Beginning in November, YouTube …
Discussion:
The Keyword, Neowin, @ekstasis.bsky.social, Engadget, 9to5Google and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Warner Bros. Television Group suspends several overall deals for top creatives, including J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence, and Mindy Kaling — Warner Bros. Television Group has also suspended pacts for Mindy Kaling and Bill Lawrence. — The WGA strike has reached …
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, @snoodit and @salcalleros
Deadline:
A look at Netflix's success-based residuals in France, Germany, and Scandinavia, driven by laws about authors' rights, as some in the US debate such metrics — Since the outbreak of the dual Hollywood labor strikes, the issue of residuals has risen to the fore as a key battleground dividing …
Reuters:
A Burmese court sentences photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike to 20 years in prison, the longest known prison term given to a media employee since the 2021 army coup — A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced a photojournalist to 20 years in prison, his employer said …
Discussion:
Voice of America, Fox News and Committee to Protect …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Spotify is testing making song lyrics a Premium-only feature, currently “with a limited number of users in a pair of markets” — A number of Spotify users began to notice something strange over the last day or so: the in-app lyrics, which typically pop up under the currently playing song …
Discussion:
@jon_speaks_, @realjoseph123, @thequietkid4l, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally, Billboard, TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Jeff Jarvis / Whither news?:
Jeff Jarvis plans to “technically” retire from CUNY's Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at this term's end; Jarvis joined as its first professor in 2005 — I have news: I am leaving CUNY's Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the end of this term.