According to LA Mag the quota plan may destroy the Oscars. It’s a perfect storm with sinking ratings, disappearing stars that have been replaced with social media influencers, and boring broadcasts. Now the quota system could be the final nail in the coffin.

Creativity and greatness no longer determines the outcome according to insiders. The rules have been changed by which films are eligible for Best Picture nominations.

Starting in 2024, producers are demanded to submit a rundown of race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status of members of their movie’s cast and crew. If a movie does not have a significant amount people of color or disabled people or gays or lesbians working on the set then that movie will no longer be eligible for an Oscar.

The quota system is not universally accepted in Hollywood circles.

“Critics say it’s invasive, anticreative, opens the door to privacy issues, and is spectacularly unfair to actors and crew members, who may want to keep their sexual orientation or health profiles to themselves, not to mention to producers and directors who have enough to worry about while shooting a movie than to be saddled with the thankless task of tallying up the identity markers of their creative partners”.

“I mean, why aren’t animals in this?” sneers one industry insider. “What if the main character is a horse?”

“The Oscars drew an all-time low of 9.85 million viewers—less than what an episode of The Big Bang Theory used to get. ”

“Aperture 2025 isn’t the only Academy initiative to recently raise eyebrows in Hollywood. In February, Oscar organizers triggered a civil war in Hollywood over a plan to pretape many of the below-the-line categories—film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, the short-film selections—and roll edits of those awards into the live broadcast. Predictably, many Academy members (especially film editors, makeup and hairstylists, and production designers) balked at the change, but at least that one was designed to address an actual existential threat to the ceremony: that it’s become so long and boring that huge swaths of the audience have begun tuning out.”

Global music revenues accelerated at a fast rate and grew by 18.5% to $25.9bn in 2021. Streaming grew grew to 523 million paid subscribers, up from 443 million in 2020. Streaming accounts for 65% of total revenues, with CDs, vinyl and cassettes making up 19% and downloads 4%. “It’s hugely encouraging,” chief executive Frances Moore told the BBC. “We lived through that dire period after 1999 where the industry declined by 40%. “We didn’t envisage we’d be in a situation [this year] where we report on 60 or 70 countries and every single one is in growth.”

Shortly after being banned from Instagram for 24 hours, we learned that Kanye was also yanked from performing on the Grammys over online bullying. He apparently targeted Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend, Pete Davidson, and TV host Trevor Noah. Ye’s spokesperson said they are not surprised by the Grammys’ decision, claiming the music awards show is outdated and does not determine how successful an artist is.

Simon Cowell is in talks about taking a gig as a talent scout for Universal Music Group. The TV singing judge has been in discussions with Lucian Grainge, the CEO of Universal. The Mail reported on Sunday: ‘Anyone who wrote Simon off when he closed Syco was very silly – he is coming back. This is a dramatic change of fortune for him. ‘Any record label would be lucky to have his knowledge, wisdom and contacts within the industry, and his old mate Lucian has got in there first.’

TikTok is launching its own music marketing and distribution platform, SoundOn. The new platform allows artists to upload their music directly to TikTok.

This distribution is free of charge and all fees are being waived by the platform. TikTok says SoundOn will pay 100% of royalties to music creators for an unlimited time on ByteDance-owned platforms.

DistroKid charges artists and labels on a subscription basis but artists keep 100% of their earnings. TuneCore charges for distribution per-song or per-album, butartists keep 100% of streaming revenues.

SoundOn offers artist tools and insights as well as advice from the SoundOn marketing team, access to TikTok’s song tab (where music is linked on profile pages), TikTok verification, editorial placements and creator marketing on TikTok’s platform.