Jessica Ryan
@jessicaryan
Piratical pioneer of experiences live on the Internet (circa 2013) // CEO Broadway Unlocked, your friendly theatre on the internet // Indefatigable advocate for arts
Jessica Ryan
watch.broadwayunlocked.com
On the surface, this article is about neural networks and the beginnings of AI, but I actually think it's invaluable insight into capitalism, scarcity, the psychology of valuations and maybe a little rich people foolishness.
Wired • The Secret Auction that Set Off the Race for AI Supremacy
What does it mean to apply our power to promote our values? It means that we can have an impact on our shared political and cultural life. It means that we can support and care for each other. It means we can stand up, individually and together, and say “no” against the injustices in the world. It means that we have the ability to initiate the... See more
Shawn Taylor • We the Fans: How Our Powers Can Change the World - Pop Culture Collaborative
2026 Media and Entertainment Industry Outlook: Evolving definitions of quality, cross-platform audience intelligence, and AI efficiency are changing competitive dynamics in the media landscape
deloitte.comFor many viewers, value sits at the intersection of intellectual property (IP), fandom, and audience activation… self-identified fans are more likely to follow their fandoms across different media, and to spend money on related merchandise, services, and events.14 As such, fans are often “net promoters” who organically extend the marketing reach of brands and franchises they care deeply about. In an ever-fragmenting and costly media landscape, fandoms can reduce uncertainty and risk of investments.
When the lyricist-composer duo behind “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” stepped onstage Sunday to accept their Grammy for best musical theater album, the list of people they wanted to thank did not start with a record label or producer, but with their social media followers.
Julia Jacobs • TikTok to the Grammys: How a ‘Bridgerton’ Musical Beat Broadway (Published 2022)
As the spark of an idea started to build, she sought help from a collaborator, Emily Bear, a 19-year-old composer and musician who had been introduced to the world as a 6-year-old piano prodigy but was hoping to prove herself as more than just a former spectacle for daytime talk shows.
Julia Jacobs • TikTok to the Grammys: How a ‘Bridgerton’ Musical Beat Broadway (Published 2022)
That’s one form of approval, but how does it feel getting this form of institutional approval from the Grammys? BEAR The powerful executives follow what the people want. Of course it feels good when someone who brushed you off for the same exact music you were writing two years ago now wants to buy it. But it’s more than that. We want to make way... See more
Julia Jacobs • TikTok to the Grammys: How a ‘Bridgerton’ Musical Beat Broadway (Published 2022)
But its five-second intro, a post-toke cough followed by a throaty scream, had popped up in a few TikToks of MMA fighters pummeling each other and weightlifters grunting beneath squat bars. Experience had taught 25/7 Media that when brief “recreates” of these kinds of songs burble up in those particular TikTok communities, virality can soon follow. When the number of recreates climbs into the tens or hundreds of thousands, Magana told me, two of 25/7’s core tenets become germane. The first: Once a social media user hears an audio snippet nine times, it gets stuck in their head to some degree. The second, which Magana has dubbed the Ten Percent Rule, is that 10 percent of those earwormed users will end up tracking down the snippet’s original source.
Rather than pay one or two famous influencers to use the “Toxic” intro in the hopes of producing a trickle-down effect, the firm appealed to scores of MMA and weightlifting TikTokkers whose followings rarely top more than a few hundred. (Some were given small payments to push the song, but others were happy to do it for free.) Flooding the zone this way caused TikTok’s algorithm to funnel posts featuring “Toxic” into the feeds of users who consume gym-centric content. Inevitably, some of those users were creators themselves, and they began to weave YoungX777’s clip into videos targeting related subcultures—like the region of TikTok obsessed with highlights of soccer players bursting past hapless defenders.
this is a 1996 guide on how to help someone use a computer. it’s strikingly resonant with ‘how to be a parent’, or really ‘how to help anyone with anything’. a nice example of “the universal within the particular”
This is shockingly close to how we approach building internet-driven live experiences with our collaborators and clients today 🤯