Tuesday gone: why albums will be released globally on Fridays

Tuesday's gone: Why albums will be released globally on Fridays

BY YOHANA DESTA

Jay Z and Beyonce perform a concert in Paris in 2014.

IMAGE: ROB HOFFMAN/INVISION FOR PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT/AP IMAGES/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fridays are the new Tuesdays in the music world.

On Feb. 26, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents labels worldwide, announced that Fridays will be the new international release day for albums.

The IFPI has been preparing for the change since last summer. Calling the goal "a big one, but a manageable one," IFPI's CEO Francis Moore discussed the new pick in a lengthy statement.

"Music fans live in the digital world of today," he wrote. "They want music when it’s available on the Internet — not when it’s ready to be released in their country."

The new global release date could also narrow the gap on piracy, Moore says, because consumers won't be as compelled to go "to pirate sites when they can't get new releases in their country."

The decision is also going to affect the Billboard charts, supported by Nielsen Music, and the UK charts, according toBillboard. Billboard's vice president of charts and data development says the IFPI's announcement doesn't come as a surprise.

"We will make an informed decision on these matters in the coming months, well in advance of the release date shift," he said in a statement.

A statement from the Official Charts Company to Billboardreiterated the same message, saying the "exact details" have not yet been decided.

Previously, Tuesday was the industry standard release date in the U.S. Mondays are preferred in the U.K. and France, and Germany opts for Friday, according to NPR.

But now that the world is picking one universal date, we have one question: How exactly did the U.S. land on a Tuesday?

How Tuesdays became the rule

According to an excerpt from the book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John?: Music's Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths and Rumors Revealed, it all has to do with streamlining sales across the board. Back in the mid-1980s, record companies decided to "level the playing field," Joe McFadden, senior vice-president of sales and field marketing at Capitol Records, told author Gavin Edwards.

Retailers would have to sell the album when they got it, but that made it difficult for smaller or more remote stores to sell it, because they would get the albums much later, McFadden explained. To quell the frustration, labels agreed to set Tuesday as the certified release date.

Nowadays, bigger artists have shirked the golden Tuesday rule. Plenty have surprise-released their albums, from Radiohead to Beyoncé to, most recently, Drake. For these top-level acts, the power of surprise and social media can bolster these albums to astronomically huge sales figures.

Radiohead's In Rainbows, released on a Wednesday, sold 1.75 million physical CDs worldwide within a year. Drake's mixtape/album If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, which released late on a Thursday night, sold 495,000 copies within the first week. Within the first three days, Beyoncé's self-titled surprise album, released on a Friday morning, sold 828,773 copies worldwide.

The online, "pay-what-you-want" sale of Radiohead's In Rainbowsskewed charts measurements, keeping the album off the top ofBillboard charts for much longer than expected.Of course, these surprise release dates don't come without backlash from retailers. Amazon and Target decided not to sell Beyoncé's CD because it was initially released as an iTunes exclusive (though, the singer used the backlash as a promo opportunity, handing out $50 gift cards to customers at Walmart, which did carry the album).

Drake's release, which many were confused about (was it a mixtape, which are typically released for free, or was it really an album?), because it initially streamed on his Soundcloud page for free. Now, many music insiders are suggesting he surprise-dropped the mixtape, then put it up for sale as a way to effectively end his four-album contract with record label Cash Money. Tuesday industry standards be damned.

It's clear releasing an album by surprise can be extremely successful, though it requires an artist of a certain caliber. The execution can also be messy on the business end.

However, consumers have proven that surprise releases can be successful. As digital sales and Internet culture dominate the music world, organizations like the IFPI have to put their heads together and make crucial changes.

Exclusive postmortem: How to Get Away with Murder boss on that killer finale what's next

Mitchell Haaseth/ABC

WARNING: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of How to Get Away with Murder. If you have not watched yet, turn back now!
 
How to Get Away with Murder delivered a killer season finale on Thursday night as one of the show’s central characters met her demise—and viewers will now have to wait roughly seven months to figure out who killed her!

During the two-hour season-ender, Wes (Alfred Enoch) was determined to figure out whether Rebecca (Katie Findlay) was responsible for Lila Stangard’s (Megan West) murder after mental patient Rudy all but pointed the finger at her. Through flashbacks to that Murder Night, we learned that Rudy witnessed Rebecca and Lila fighting as the sorority girl blamed Rebecca for all her horrible recent decisions—like sleeping with Mr. Darcy, aka Sam Keating (Tom Verica). Because Lila vowed to get back with Griffin (Lenny Platt), Rebecca hooked up with him to prove he was a bad guy. Little did she know, Rebecca had inadvertently ruined Lila’s plan to sleep with her old boyfriend so she could say Sam’s baby was actually Griffin’s. Running out of options, Lila planned to tell Annalise (Viola Davis) the truth about her husband, but was thwarted by Bonnie (Liza Weil).
 
When Sam later met Lila on the roof of the sorority house, he promised that he was finally leaving Annalise and ran off to tell her—but, of course, that was all a lie. Instead, he called Frank (Charlie Weber), pointing out that Annalise’s bulldog owed him a favor, after which you see that it was not Rebecca or Sam who killed Lila, but Frank, who choked her to death before dumping her body in the water tower. Dun. Dun. Dunnn.

Meanwhile, in the present, Annalise and the Keating Five held a mock trial to prove Rebecca was guilty of Lila’s murder—sadly, she was only guilty of drugging Rudy with PCP and bath salts so he couldn’t talk to the cops about her fight with Lila and finding her wet after she hid in the water tower when she discovered her friend’s already-dead body. Forced to tie her up in the basement after she sent a cryptic text to a mysterious number—what the heck is Eggs 911?—Rebecca suddenly seemingly escaped the Keating residence to everyone’s dismay. In truth, someone killed Rebecca and hid her body under the staircase. Who did the deed? And what’s next for the Keating Five? EW sat down with series creator Pete Nowalk to press him for info in the exclusive postmortem below:
 
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you always know Frank would be Lila’s killer?
PETE NOWALK: No. It was a possibility, but I was more like, the audience watching it in terms of the way we wrote it: which one of these two people, Rebecca or Sam, killed Lila? That’s always how it was in my head, and I was like, “That’s going be cool. Which one?” It’s like in Serial: Did Adnan do it? But then that was in the midst of rewriting and feeling things out and being really excited about that idea when it was being pitched, because, for me, it raises so many more questions about Frank and Sam and who Frank is. I’m really excited to delve into all of that.

You actually had two different endings. Do you want to say what the other one was?
I don’t want to say what the other ending is, because it might be incorporated into the next season.

Who else did you consider besides Frank? There was a moment I thought it could be Bonnie or even Asher (Matt McGorry).
If you could figure out how Asher would have done it, then you would have deserved a medal. The world can’t be tiny town in terms of, how would Asher have known? We only had a few options, to me, that felt real, unless it was someone completely random. One of the other writers pitched it to me in our mad “let’s just think outside the box of everything that could happen.” Again, it just felt like this weird thing we’ve had set up the whole season of who Frank is and what his deal is. The only real scene that Sam and Frank were in together was in the pilot, when Sam comes home and Bonnie’s watching the news about dead Lila, and Frank is there, but they don’t exchange any words. It’s just really fascinating to me now that that scene, where we watch Sam and Annalise come home from the cocktail party in the pilot, and Bonnie’s all there and she kisses Sam on the cheek—Frank and Sam are ignoring each other, but they have this whole, huge knowledge of something that just went on between the two of them. It’s probably the first time they’ve seen each other since the phone call. All of that just felt so rich and like we’d planted it from the beginning. Or maybe we had subconsciously.

There was a question of how the characters would feel if Sam didn’t kill Lila, which helped them justify his death. Technically, Sam gave the order to kill Lila. Do you feel that still justifies it?
Yes. When Annalise said Sam killed Lila, it’s true. What she doesn’t know, and what nobody else knows besides Frank, is that it’s much more twisted and messed up, and it’s going to cause a lot more problems for them than she even realizes. Along the same lines of that, Rebecca is dead, but that is not justified in any weird morality, “eye for an eye” type of way. So yes, whether they were ever justified in killing Sam, that’s just something they’re telling themselves so they can move on in their life, but the house of cards is still falling down, and mistakenly, bad things are happening to other people who maybe don’t deserve it.

Will we find out what Frank owed Sam?
Yes, for sure. That is a very big favor, and we would be mistaken not to answer that question for the audience.

Deep down, do you think Annalise knows Frank killed Lila? Or is she as unaware as anyone else?
That is a question I want to leave hanging for people, because some people could assume Annalise knows that. There’s also the possibility that she knows nothing. Another man has betrayed her in her life, someone she thought was loyal and she could trust. That’s something I want people to wonder about before we answer it.

So, the audience knows that Frank is the killer, but will the Keating Five ever know the truth?
When we end this episode, Annalise truly believes they’ll never know for real, and she started the season saying that: “You just don’t know people, and you’ll never know.” There can be all the evidence in the world that says one thing, but unless you see it with your own eyes, I don’t think you can believe it. There’s a way that they can find out the truth—in fact, someone’s still living that knows the truth. That will be the fun mystery for next season is if they’re going to figure that out and how that then affects them.

During the episode when Bonnie and Asher are in bed, Bonnie makes mention that she knows things about Frank that could bury him. Is she alluding to him helping cover up Sam’s murder or does she know he killed Lila?
It could definitely run deeper. There are questions of like, “What did Bonnie mean by that?” and “How much does she know?” The question, of course, is, “Does she know that he killed Lila?” With Frank and Bonne, we haven’t even touched upon what their backstories are, when they first met, and how they know each other, and what they know about each other. There’s a lot of ground to be investigated there.

Let’s turn to Rebecca’s shocking death. When did Katie Findlay find out that Rebecca was going to die? And will we see her back next season?
I hope so. Obviously, we do a lot of flashbacks on the show. As a person who loves Katie and [she] has become my friend, that made it a little bit easier for me to have to tell her, “Look, your character’s going to end up dead at the end of the finale.” Just knowing that Sam’s dead, but we still see him a lot, and not wanting to lose a wonderful actor on the show and a character I really find fascinating. So, I hope so. That’s all to be determined right now. There’s the questions of who’s Eggs 911? There’s the question of how did she end up dead in the basement? I feel like there’s things we’re going need to hopefully see her for.

What came with the decision to kill off Rebecca? And how far back did you know she would ultimately die?
Not far back. Part of me wanted to not do another death, so it was really just following the story. Once we got back from the holiday for the New Year, and we were breaking the final hour of the finale, we were just following the story and it just felt right, especially after learning that Sam is really the one responsible for Lila’s death—and Frank. It just made it much more sad to me that she died. Emotionally, it felt very interesting to play for next season. There’s also the interest in that Annalise is lying to Wes when she says, “We’ll find Rebecca.” There are more secrets that come from it and a lot of Annalise wanting to protect Wes from this knowledge, because she knows that he really does love Rebecca.

And yet, part of me thinks: What if Wes killed her? Is that a fair question?
That’s a very fair statement. The last person we saw with her alive was Wes. Time has passed since that, but everything’s fair game in the show.

He was really emotional in that final scene with Annalise. Some might say that’s because he worries he wasn’t justified in killing Sam, but it could be because he just killed Rebecca.
The puppy is a mystery to us, too. Rebecca says that thing about his mother being dead, and whether it was really a suicide. Obviously, I like the idea that people wonder about the characters and what they’re capable of, because they’re all human people, but, “Who knows what we’re all capable of?” has been a central theme, for me, just in writing the show. It’s fun.

Rebecca seemed to be trying to turn the Keating Five against each other when she said that about Wes’ mother, but could it actually be true?
I want people to wonder about all the characters, so that’s all I’ll say.

Let’s go back to “Eggs 911.” Is this something that we could figure out if we go back and rewatch the episodes? Or do we not have enough information yet?
I’ll just relate it to the fingernail scratches: If you could figure out that, then you could figure out Eggs 911. If you feel like you could not figure out that, then you probably will not figure out Eggs 911. I’m just trying to give credit. Some people spin really interesting theories, and sometimes I’m afraid that they’re going to get it right; that’s our challenge is to make sure that they’re not obvious enough, but they also feel real.

Is the recipient of the Eggs 911 text a new character or a character we already know?
I won’t say.

Before she died, Rebecca went to the police. Was that just to find out who the rent-a-cop was?
She went to the campus police. It might not be clear, but I want to be clear that she did go to the campus police. Whether that was just to find out where the rent-a-cop went or was she leaving a breadcrumb there for someone is up in the air. We didn’t see her in the police station. That’s a fair question.

I’m sure many will suspect Frank killed Rebecca, even though he told Annalise he didn’t. But is it too obvious that it would be him? Should we widen our scope to even some of the Keating Five?
I don’t want to steer people in any direction in how they should think of the show. Sometimes we’ll give them the most obvious answer, and sometimes we don’t. I feel like as long as people are wondering and questioning and trying to figure out who did it, then we’ve done our job for the season, and we’ll answer those questions when we start again.

You said you were hesitant to do another murder night. This technically wasn’t at night, but do you feel the show needs to be marked by these big murder events?
The show needs mystery more than murder events. The first season has been a few murder mysteries, so whether those are murders or other types of mysteries, that’s really, for me, the fun in writing the show is solving these questions. But again, literally our rules, we just follow the stories. We try not to think of it in terms of, “What is our hook this season?” but more, just write what feels like the natural next step that would happen in these circumstances.

Do you think Wes still really cared for and loved Rebecca?
He’s definitely heartbroken over the idea that she lied to him, because she did never tell the whole story of that night. Part of him wonders if he still does know the whole story. He’s confused. The pure side of him wants to believe that she’s telling the truth, and she’s a wounded bird, and he needs to love her in order to heal her. The other’s scared. He’s caught in the middle still.

Can he come back from this? Or has he cracked completely?
He can come back from it. How that looks and who he turns into—to me, the conflict is: Can he stay the puppy? Can he want to see good in the world anymore, or is he just now totally scarred and cynical and turning more into Annalise? Has he seen too much?

Annalise yelled at him, “Be a man!” How does their relationship change moving forward?
It’s always going to be a rollercoaster ride. They’re tethered to each other in a very screwed up way, but they really need each other. Annalise is figuring it out whether she should be maternal to him or whether she should be a teacher or what that looks like. They’re both reacting to everything in the moment. When she’s yelling at him, she honestly means that, like “Be a man!” Then when she sees that Rebecca’s dead and realizes Wes is so broken, she feels like she needs to comfort him. She’s just like a parent figuring it out as she goes, how to handle him. But there’s still a lot of secrets between them that will rock them a lot more.

Annalise has been staying strong, likely because she’s determined to help these kids, but will she be able to take a breath again soon and realize how messed up her life has become?
When does she get to take a breath and be like, “Okay, everything in my life is going to be okay?” I don’t think soon. There are a lot of problems to be fixed, and she deals in the darkness. She chose a job where she’s representing the darkest parts of life, so that is life to her. She went to therapy, as someone pointed out, “Why do you dip your toe in the dark waters versus choosing a simple and happier life?” That’s just an interesting character flaw for her. She ultimately wants to make things OK, and she’s going work very hard to do that, and struggle with what that looks like.

After Annalise told ADA Emily Sinclair (Sarah Burns) a new story about Sam and Nate (Billy Brown) having a physical altercation—all so she could get Nate out of jail, surprisingly—the prosecutor showed up at Asher’s house to ask questions about Annalise. Why did she go to Asher in particular?
That’s a good question. Where did this prosecutor come from, and what does she know, and how did she end up at Asher’s? Annalise is really smart, but there’s a lot of other smart people that work on the other side of the courtroom. To me, what’s appealing about that character is that she seems kind of daffy on the outside, but clearly is maybe using that as a cover. To me, what I want people to think about her going to Asher is like, “Oh, they know. They’ve been watching these people and know things at a much deeper level than we’ve come to suspect at this point.”

When Nate called Annalise to meet, I was worried that he was recording her. Not true, right?
I won’t say either way.

Nate did call the phone number that Annalise had given him, so will whoever is on the other line play a big role next season?
I won’t say a big role, because I don’t know yet, but I hope it plays a very important role. Who is this person that Annalise knows that can help him? That’s really exciting to think about who that person is and how they know Annalise and if there’s any backstory there.

Do you have any dream casting?
I do, but I don’t want to say, because I don’t want it to be like one sex or the other. I just won’t want people to read into it. And it’s still such in its preliminary stages that it could change completely.

Could Annalise live with herself if Nate died because of her?
It would be very hard for her to keep going and also question what the hell she’s doing with her life and how did she end up here. But it would be very difficult for her to keep going.

Turning to the Keating Five, after Connor (Jack Falahee) and Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) got tested, we learn that Oliver is HIV positive. How is this going to affect their relationship? And why did you decide to introduce this storyline?
I wanted to introduce the storyline because it felt very real to me, and I actually haven’t seen it dealt with on TV very recently. Especially in their age group, with people maybe not using condoms as much as they should, people end up HIV positive. Really it just felt real and important in a certain way, because I like visibility of certain things that we don’t see a lot. How it affects the relationship is going to be twisty and turny and hard. Whether they stay together or not, They’re really bonded, and Connor feels very grateful for how much Oliver’s helped him—even though Oliver doesn’t know it—through the post-murder stuff. Connor has a good heart and wants Oliver to be okay. Just watching him feel that distraught and scared at the end with the news that he’s positive, Connor needs to figure out what his role is in the relationship now.

Laurel (Karla Souza) actually had Michaela’s (Aja Naomi King) ring the whole time. When did you decide that was the answer to the missing ring? And how will the Keating Five feel about that since it is a betrayal of trust?  
They’re all liars; they’ve all been lying to each other since the beginning. That’s what is fun to me. We had lots of options throughout the season. Like the audience, we would wonder where the freaking ring was. But when we were really writing the finale, that felt really interesting to me and really a perfect conclusion to Lauren’s arc. She’s much more mischievous and sinister and smart than anyone ever gives her credit for, and we’ve seen that now through the season. They’ve all lied, so this will definitely will cause some conflict between Michaela and Laurel, and that’s what I’m really excited to explore. They have a really interesting relationship that we haven’t so much, but I can’t wait to see how that affects them next year. Basically, I want to see what Michaela’s going to do in response.

Michaela has basically walked away from Aiden. Might we see someone new in her life next year? Or is Aiden still going to be in her world?
Both of those things can be true. Where we left Michaela, she’s really done with him, and she’s a changed person. Her bubble has been burst, so maybe she would have been happy married to him for a little bit, but  ultimately she would have realized that she’s betraying who she really is to take on this kind of perfect, traditional lifestyle. She’s much more untraditional than she’s ever admitted to herself, and she’s darker, too. I definitely think there’s going to be more mess in her life next year, her personal life. I’m very excited about that, and so is Aja, about what that looks like.

Asher wanted to make sure Annalise didn’t find about him and Bonnie, and inadvertently told everyone.
That’s a big red flag. It’s definitely a big red flag from Bonnie. How is Annalise going to react to that with Bonnie, and is Bonnie going be able to justify, and is it going to burst the bubble of Asher and Bonnie? Are they going be able to actually stay together, especially now that he’s being questioned by the other side? There’s a lot of complications there.

Is this now a chip that Frank and the Keating Five can lord over them?
It’s funny to me, because it actually feels like such a small secret in comparison to the other secrets. All the characters are always thinking, “Is this something I could use to help myself later?” They’ve learned that from Annalise, to be strategic. If they have secret information, they might want to hold onto it until they can use it.

How do you feel about making it through the first season?
I feel relieved, and I feel excited that I really do see mysteries. I feel like we’re just starting to get to know these people and the web of intrigue between them all. I feel excited because I can see more than just the season. But mostly, I feel relieved because I’m really proud of the finale. I loved the last act. It’s fun and exciting, and it all feels like a good jumping-off point for next year.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Launches second year of art campaign.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. launches second year of art campaign, The Art of Evolution -- exclusive

Marvel/ABC Studios

Last year, EW partnered with Marvel for The Art of Level 7, a series of exclusive posters showcasing key events in episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And in anticipation of next week’s mid-season premiere, EW is proud to bring back this initiative for a second round.

Every Thursday for the next few months, EW will bring you an exclusive first look at a new poster commissioned by a surprise artist, along with an interview from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeff Bell. The art will be available for sale on Marvel’s website as a high-quality print limited to 100 copies, starting at 12:30 a.m. PT each following Friday. This is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Art of Evolution, and we’re excited to introduce the first piece in the new collection from artist Gabriele Dell’Otto.

If the name sounds familiar, it should—aside from his recent work on Marvel’s X-Force mini-series, Dell’Otto, along with writer Brian Michael Bendis, created the character of Daisy Johnson (aka “Quake”) in Marvel’s Secret Wars. “We’re doing 12 pieces—we’re doing it for the whole back half, which is exciting for us,” Bell revealed.

As it did last year, Marvel collaborated with various artists in and out of comic industry, working closely to help produce episodic-specific pieces with a creative spin. “We came up with a list of a whole bunch of artists—just a real wish list of people—and then Marvel went out and chose people based on a specific style or because of some sort of relationship to the piece,” Bell explained. “And that’s how we came up with Gabriele Dell’Otto for this one, as the co-creator of Daisy Johnson. And now that we’ve got Skye there, it seemed like he would be a great choice to bring his unique perspective to the character. And I think it fits to the two visions of her—both as emerging superhero as well as her being caught in the middle of it all—and it’s captured really well here.”

In the explosive mid-season finale, a terrigan mist was released that allowed Skye to unlock her new powers as superhero Daisy Johnson. But the event also resulted in the loss of Agent Trip, and the mid-season premiere, appropriately titled “Aftershocks,” will find Skye and the rest of the team dealing with the aftermath of these events. Read on for more in our chat with Bell, as we take a closer look at what this first piece of art means for next week…and beyond.

EW: I love the fact that you chose to have Dell’Otto—the original creator of Daisy Johnson—debut your first piece, given that “Aftershocks” is the first time we’re going to see Skye really embracing her true identity. Was that an intentional choice?
JEFF BELL: Absolutely, and that’s 100% why we chose him. And other aspects of it involve Coulson’s relationship to her, and also sort of hinting at what you also saw hinted at in episode ten, which is Raina ain’t quite the same as we saw her last time. And that will be really interesting, to see how people react to that. We’re really excited about the actress, Ruth Negga, and where we’re taking the character, and so the poster hints at that as well.

Speaking of Raina in this piece – when you were asking people to create the art, did you give them specific direction about what was happening to the character so that they could work off of that information? Or is something like this more open to interpretation in terms of what Raina could become?
I would say for this, it’s not without base and some fact. It’s representative, and it’s his interpretation of certain things, and I think certain things here are quite different than how she’ll look. But I think it’s also hinting at the transformation. So when we approach them, we say, “we think this is interesting because of this or this.” This episode is the aftermath of Skye becoming a superhero, and maybe we’ll show them the script or let them watch the episode and let them respond to it emotionally and see what’s interesting to them. And then we have a conversation with them about how we’d like to portray that, and then we try to lean into the strengths that they have. Some are more graphic, some are more character based, some are more composite, and some are cleaner. And that’s one of the things we really look forward to each week, getting the initial sketches back from the artists and seeing their interpretation. It’s really fun to see how each one is unique and different, and we hope fans want to collect all of them—I know I do!

I also love how Coulson is portrayed in this piece, and I think that’s really important in light of everything that happened recently, with Skye finally meeting her father but realizing that as far as paternal figures go, Coulson is really the one she wants to be close to. And I like how Dell’Otto depicted that, where Coulson is kind of in between Skye’s two different sides: Skye transforming and Skye as a girl who has to deal with what she’s become.
One of the joys of the season has been watching both Chloe [Bennet] and Skye come of age. And Skye has become more confident as a character and as an agent, and we’ve also seen Chloe become more confident as an actor and performer, whether it’s her fight skills or whether it’s her emotional portrayal.

Can you talk at all about what we see of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in this? I remember when we had the art pieces last year, there was a lot of the S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol being overlaid by Hydra—or as you liked to call it, “Shydra.”
I don’t want to give too much away, but right now, we’re still very much in a S.H.I.E.L.D. world. And it’s still part of it, but it’s a background element to the more dynamic conflict we’re kind of bringing forward, which is more personal. I think as you see how S.H.I.E.L.D. is going forward, it will be ever-changing and intriguing. That’s all I’ll say.

So is it safe to say that Skye’s transformation as Daisy will be the driving point of the back half of the season, like Ward’s betrayal was last year?
I think that’s a very safe assumption. I think everyone has an opinion not only about Skye, but about people with powers. And suddenly, you’ve got this person you knew who comes in feeling different, and what does that mean both for her and for everyone else on the team? It is, in many ways, the axis around which around a lot of the back half of this season will emerge from.

Can we also infer based on what we see of Raina in this image that she’ll get closer with Skye because they share something other people might not be able to understand?
What I will say is that we’ve been playing the Skye and Raina through the whole thing as parallels, as doppelgangers of one another—two sides of the same coin. Both young women without parents, without a history, both struggling with who they are, both looking to figure out who they are and what they will become. And then who they are and what they will become in both instances are surprising and complicated and so that will absolutely affect their relationship with one another.

Lady Gaga to star in American Horror Story next season

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Monster casting news: In a stunning coup, American Horror Story has signed Lady Gaga to star in the next edition of the FX anthology series. 

EW can reveal the Grammy winner will be a series regular in the fifth edition of the popular thriller, which is expected to air this fall. This will mark Gaga’s first starring role in a major production as an actress. 

The new theme of the season, and the title, is American Horror Story: Hotel, as revealed by Gaga herself in a video tweet (below). It’s not yet know what kind of character she will play.

The move follows the “Bad Romance” singer’s head-turning performance at the Oscars on Sunday where she surprised fans accustomed to her wild outfits and heavily produced pop hits by taking the stage in a traditional flowing white gown and belting out a full-throated tribute to The Sound of Music. One Time critic declared the performance “could redefine her career.” 

Now she’s taking an even more unexpected turn by joining the cast of a TV series  albeit one that’s critically acclaimed and has plenty of theatrical elements that one could imagine appealing to the singer. Plus, like HBO’s star-drawing True Detective, FX’s horror series boasts a format that appeals to in-demand performers since stars can commit to only a single season and still have a starring role.

Yet one question that some will certainly ask: Can Gaga pull off a sustained acting gig? Her prior acting credits are in music videos and short scenes – most significantly minor roles in Men in Black 3, and director Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills (clip below) and Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For. Rodriguez said he was impressed by her performance and told E! she could have a long acting career if she pursued one. “She would be fantastic,” Rodriguez said. “The camera loves her. She’s a great performer. She’s performed twice for me now and I was blown away by her discipline. She studied acting before she became a singer and you could really tell.”  

Gaga previously worked with AHS co-creator Ryan Murphy when she lent the use of her songs to his Fox musical comedy Glee in 2010. “I love Glee,” she said at the time. “I love the cast and the creativity of the writers. I went to a musical theater school and used to dream that some day the students would be singing my songs.” Next for the show: AHS will close PaleyFest in Los Angeles on March 15 with a panel from last year’s Freak Show edition along with executive producer Tim Minear – and there’s sure to be a curious question or two about next season and Gaga’s role. EW’s Tim Stack will moderate the panel. 

Adam Goodman prepares to Exit as Film Group President

Paramount Shake-Up: Adam Goodman Prepares to Exit as Film Group President

In a major shake-up at Paramount Pictures, Adam Goodman is preparing to exit as president of the film group, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Goodman has a year left on his contract but won't survive much longer. While the studio hasn't necessarily suffered a major financial box office bomb of late, Paramount chairman-CEO Brad Grey and vice chairmanRob Moore apparently aren't satisfied with the controls on production costs, according to a source with ties to the studio. "They keep going over budget," the insider said.

A Paramount spokesperson said the studio does not comment on employment matters, but a source inside Paramount confirmed the "studio is currently reviewing its creative organization."

News of Goodman's pending departure is the latest change to hit a major Hollywood studio. On Tuesday,Tom Rothman was named co-chairman of Sony following the exit of Amy Pascal and the unprecedented cyberattack against the studio. One of Rothman's new charges will be worldwide marketing and distribution chief Josh Greenstein, who served in the same job at Paramount before leaving for Sony last fall.

In 2007, after years of trailing its studio rivals in market share, Paramount zoomed to No. 1, thanks in large part to Transformers and a handful of other titles overseen by Goodman when serving as president of production atDreamWorks. A year later, amid its otherwise acrimonious split with DreamWorks, Grey and Moore persuaded Goodman to join the studio, promoting him to film group president a year after that.

Paramount stayed at the top of its game through 2011, when it hit $5.2 billion in worldwide box office revenue, an industry record. Aside from being a chief architect behind the Transformers franchise, Goodman successfully rebooted the Mission: Impossible and Star Trek properties while launching G.I. Joe.

Goodman successfully navigated tricky waters when having to rework Brad Pitt's World War Z, which ended up earning $540 million worldwide after its release in summer 2013. However, it cost money to salvage the film. The studio also had to rework other films, includingG.I. Joe: Retaliation. "The problems are not so much the lack of hits but the lack of production controls," says the source close to the studio. "And it is Adam's job to manage the process."

While box office standing doesn't indicate profitability, Paramount's domestic revenue fell sharply in 2012, from $2 billion the year before to $914.4 million. The dip coincided with the defection of Marvel Studios to Disney. Paramount lost another source of product when DreamWorks Animation left for Fox in late 2012, although DWA has since suffered a string of misses. In 2013, Paramount's domestic revenue was $966.9 million, followed by $1.1 billion last year. Insiders point out that Goodman can't be blamed in this area, since he doesn't control the number of films the studio makes, or distribution partnerships.

Goodman's recent successes include The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which has reinvigorated the family franchise with box office earnings of $203.8 million to date, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which exceeded expectations last year when grossing $438.8 million globally (Ninja was shut down during preproduction to rework the story).

Goodman also oversaw Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which divided critics but ultimately earned $672.3 million worldwide.

Earlier this month, Paramount's Hot Tub Time Machine 2bombed at the box office with a $7.1 million debut, although MGM spearheaded production on the film, not Goodman.

Okumagba - Nigeria's entertainment industry lacks structures

Nigeria’s entertainment industry lacks structures –Okumagba

The Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) recently held its two-day annual conference, with the aim of helping to get more value from Nigeria’s entertainment industry, whose products have crossed borders across the globe with little impact on the nation’s economy. At the end of the conference held in Lagos with Nollywood stars and music icons in attendance, CIS President, Albert Okumagba, in this post-conference interview, tells newsmen that lack of funds, piracy, poor database and High operational cost are the biggest inhibitors in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. Deputy Editor, Kingsley Ighomwenghian, was there

Okumagba

What informed the theme of your recent conference?

The theme of the conference was borne out of a number of factors. One, there is the belief that the entertainment industry has not really benefited from the capital market. The coverage and spread of Nollywood and the Nigerian music industry go beyond the shores of Nigeria. The popularity of Nigerian actors and musicians within Africa and beyond appears to be unparalleled within the continent. Hence, if it can access capital that can run a lifeline in its system, the entertainment industry can be a major export earnings source to the nation. Besides, we are of the view that the industry has the potential to do more than it is contributing to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the moment if it is well funded.

What were some of the issues raised at the event?

The most critical issues raised by the discussants and speakers were: lack of regulatory structure in the entertainment industry; lack of knowledge on the part of capital market operators; the entertainment industry is dominated by individuals and not corporate organisations; lack of data and poor record keeping by the practitioners in the entertainment industry; general misunderstanding of the role of capital market, and piracy.

Were there issues that resonated in the presentations?

Yes, the lack of structure, data and capital market operators’ limited knowledge of the entertainment industry, as well as the need to curb piracy.

How would you advise operators in the entertainment industry to access the market, what are the options available to them?

Special funds should be created for the entertainment industry. The fund should be sold to the investing public through the capital market. The funds should capture the characteristic of the each area of entertainment being funded.

As a frontline stockbroker, to what extent are operators in the entertainment industry qualified to access fund from the capital market?

There are still structural issues to be sorted out. Secondly, the entertainment industry operators need to be transparent in their dealings. They need to start to employ professionals in keeping their financial records. They should incorporate companies for the businesses and start separating their businesses from themselves.

Is the market ready to absorb them, amid complaints of the operators’ lack of structure?

Yes, they can be treated on individual basis, based on track record and recognition. In fact, immediately there is one success story of access to fund through the capital market, others will follow, and the market will then dictate the structures they need.

What are the challenges of the entertainment industry in Nigeria?

They include the lack of access to funds; piracy; lack of data; and high operational cost.

Is it true that the rebasing of the Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) brought into fore the contributions of the industry for the first time?

We have always known this but the rebasing put monetary value to it even though the figure may not be correct, as we do not have the data to generate accurate figures.

What should investors look for before they invest in the entertainment industry?

That is difficult to say, knowing how the industry works. It is not all their work that turns out successful. But as in all investments, the character or track record of the promoters should guide an investor.

Other things that could be looked at are the size and structure of the market of the products, the level of development of the industry in terms of maturity, the level of competition amongst players, average cost of doing business, industry average revenue/returns and the market share of the artiste being considered as the avenue of investment.

You have created a special identity for the Fellows of the institute this year, what should we expect subsequently?

Investiture of Fellows of the Institute, going forward, would be an occasion of excellence, celebrating very distinguished City Gentlemen of the Stockbroking profession.

Were you satisfied with this year’s conference?

Yes, I am highly satisfied with this year’s conference but there is room for improvement.

What would you like to put in place for upcoming conferences?

The first is a reconfiguration of the conference fees to attract more participating members in the next annual conference. We also intend to do a comprehensive post-mortem of the conference with a view to learning from areas where few challenges were met, in order to have a better conference in 2015. Furthermore, there is likely to be an improvement in the awareness on the conference as well as the time interval between when the conference is announced and the time of the conference.

What is the current market state and what is your view of the outlook at the end of this quarter?

The market is presently bearish but with capacity to rebound and close in one digit positive territory at the end of the quarter. An answer to this question should be approached from first having a good understanding of the cause(s) of the present state of the market. Some of the reasons for the bearish state of the market are economic risk borne out of the reducing international oil price and building political risk surrounding the impending general elections, which are all likely to make foreign investors averse to investing in the country. And given the percentage of foreign participation in the Nigerian market, their withdrawal is largely felt by the market. However, since the reasons are not tied around the performance of the listed companies and the continuous attractive opportunities that the Nigerian market presents, the market has the possibility of returning a positive return in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The institute has become more visible under your administration. What is the secret?

The secret for the visibility of the institute is anchored on dynamic and virile leadership now experienced in the institute and enhanced network of relationship by the leadership of the council of the institute.

What is your message to investors as we approach the end of the last quarter?

Investors should take position at the demand territory of the market to benefit upon the rebound of the market. There is always opportunity to make money whether the market is up or down.

The Entertainment industry in retrospect

Nigeria @ 54:  The entertainment industry in retrospect

It was recorded in history that film first arrived in Nigeria in the form of roving peephole hawkers of still pictures. These were soon replaced with roving cinemas, which began entertaining Nigerians with American and western films.

Edgar Rice Buroughs’ 1935 film, Sanders of the River, partly shot in Nigeria, helped in putting Nigeria on the world film map through the participation of late Orlando Martins (1899-1985) who acted in the film alongside the American actor, Paul Robeson.

Orlando Martins also featured in Man from Morocco and Black Libel, his first film, which was never finished but gave him the needed experience. It was however the part of Magole, the witch doctor, in Men of Two Worlds that put him in the public eyes.

Before these films, Glover Memorial Hall is on record as having been the first venue to show a film in Nigeria in August 1903. Documentaries on the Queen’s visits to Nigeria, English football matches, Westminster Parliamentary debates, and government-sponsored films on health and education as well as legendary cowboy films soon began dominating the cinemas in the late ‘50s before Nigerians gained independence from their Colonial Masters.

Before then, there was neither technology nor the means to produce indigenous films but Nigerians were satisfied with mostly foreign films mostly American and Indian films. Soon different quarters of the urban centre became flooded with wall posters of alien culture in the form of American, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese films.

Children caught on to the Kung-fu and Karate culture. Nigerians began to know more about Bruce Lee, James Bond, and the travails of the American Indians than they did about the Wole Soyinka-led Mbari Mbayo cultural group, Hubert Ogunde’s troupe or other socio-cultural history of Nigeria.

Some significant successes were recorded after independence when for about ten years after the Nigeria civil war, Nigerian literature and theatre got introduced to motion picture. Representative of this new wave were the works of Ogunde. He was a doyen of Nigerian art and culture who believed that these were veritable tools in promoting Nigerian culture to the international community. The Nigerian nightlife scene subsequently came alive. Highlife music was the in-thing and the music of the Koola Lobitos, late Stephen Osita Osadebe, The Oriental Brothers, I. K. Dairo, Rex Jim Lawson, E. T. Mensah, and Victor Olaiya, reigned. Others included, Celestine Ugwu, Mike Ejeagha, Jimi Solanke, Victor Uwaifor, Bobby Benson, Fatai Rolling Dollars, Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, Oliver de Coque, Mamman Shata, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Orlando Owoh and others.

Ola Balogun’s Post-Civil war flick, reminded Nigerians of the Pre-Civil war days when Nigeria was one huge undivided house where Igbo musicians sang Yoruba highlife and Yorubas sang Hausa songs. Amadi was an Igbo film made by a Yoruba man and was clearly a glimpse from the future of the film industry in Nigeria.

The film Bisi, Daughter of the River was another fair effort on celluloid, which captured Nigerian culture on film. Dinner with the Devil was another first generation Nigerian film by the duo of Sanya Dosunmu and Wole Amele. Eddie Ugbomah’s The Great Attempt was also another valiant film. Several decades later, the late Ogunde featured in Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson, a film that did little to elevate the sad perception of Blacks and Africans.

In the 1980’s, the TV serialization of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart became hugely successful. Also on screen were, Adio Family, Village Headmaster, Cock Crow at Dawn, The Masquerade, Mirror in the Sun, Checkmate, Sura the Tailor, Awada Kerikeri and Second Chance, Tales By Moonlight, on national television. These productions, it was noted, were indeed instrumental to the revival of the local film industry and hence the birth of the home video culture in Nigeria.

However, entertainment industry was among the worst hit and had to move indoors due to the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP).

The few cinema houses existing either had to close shop or were taken over by religious bodies. This, however, accelerated the birth of home video entertainment. The pioneers of this includes Amaka Igwe, Tunde Kelani, Zeb and Chico Ejiro, The Amata brothers, Femi Lasode, Olu Jacobs, Joke Jacobs, Liz Benson, Kenneth Nnebue, Richard Mofe Damijo, Zachee Orji, Pete Edochie, Sam Loco Efe, U.S. Galadima, Yinka Quadri, Idowu Philips, Babatunde Omidina, Jide Kosoko, and others, who inherited, without hesitation, the commercial and artistic traditions of Nigerian film and theatre from the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya, Duro Ladipo, Ola Balogun, Wole Amele, Eddie Ugbomah, just to name a few, and began to tell Nigeria’s stories using the video format.

By 1993 when the National Film Festival was held for the first time, Nigeria’s film industry score sheet was 25 English, five Hausa, 50 films Yoruba and One Igbo film.

Before now traditional, cultural rhythms and music forms had grown prominently but rather than these forms of entertainment, which over the years, had served as cultural identity for Nigerians, they have given way to musicians who are now producing western-oriented music. Most contemporary musicians and actors have achieved popularity through their cultural and traditional music.

The stage now, however, seems to have been abandoned by contemporary musicians for the generation-X musicians, who are visibly under the influence of western music.

54 years after Independence, some school of thought believes that there is need for a concerted effort to redeem Nigerian music from the throes of undue western influence.

Others, however, see the trend as a development in Nigerian music industry. According to Sunday Irih, who spoke with Daily Independent on the state of Nigerian entertainment industry,  “in terms of originality and creativity in the Nigerian music industry, they are still not there. We are still at the primary level in the entertainment industry.

“ I feel the people are not straight and are still in the Dark Age. Being an entertainer has a calling on its own. They should look into the issue of imitation. Our musicians now lack cultural identity and they lack originality”, said Irih.

One of Nigeria’s earliest musicians Ebenezer Obey, also told Daily Independent that the industry has indeedwitnessed tremendous change, adding, however, that a lot still needs to be done, passing the buck of blame on pirates who have since captured the industry with their illegal business.

According to him, “We have made tremendous progress; we have different generations of musicians. Some belong to the contemporary and we have some which belong to the X-generation. The summary is that we have made progress but we still have more rooms for improvement.

“The present generation of musicians are doing their own thing in their own way and they are enjoying themselves because music is communication and all generations have to reach their generation. Piracy is another thing that has made it difficult for us to achieve good results. In other for the industry to grow we need to eradicate piracy. “War against piracy has been on for a while but if we are persistent, we will achieve something from this and they will be defeated one day because they don’t belong to the industry. I thank God that different bodies in the industry have been set up to fight them and I am very optimistic that we will give them a chase”, Obey retorted.

Another entertainment area which incidentally has received a boom is the comedy sector. Comedy in Nigeria came to shape about in the 90s with the introduction of Night of Thousands Laugh by Opa Williams, which often precedes Nigeria’s Independence anniversary. Before now, not many could hold up their heads and claim to be comedians in Nigeria. Those who did anything close, prefer to be called Masters of Ceremony (MC). This was because it was more honourable to go by the appellation of an MC than to be associated with a bunch of people who were described with some of the worst epithets, like ‘loafers,’ ‘people with no future ambition,’ jokers’ and the like. Incidentally, these people were not devoted to comedy. They rather breezed in and out of it.

The industry later witnessed the arrival of Atunnyota Alleluya Akpobome, better known as, Ali Baba, whom many have described as the father of Nigeria’s comedy industry. He started in 1993. Subsequently, the industry has produced sizeable number of comedians. They include, Basketmouth, Yinka Adeyinka, Ayo Makun, Enchee the Comedian, Klint Da Drunk, Holy Mallam, I Go Dye etc, the industry now can now boast of female comedians like Princess, Helen Paul, Mandy, Lepacious Bose and host of others.

Indeed in fifty-four years of our nationhood, the entertainment industry has evolved and is indeed still growing with many ropes let down for as many that are willing to climb to take a dash.