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MasterClass is one of the internet’s favorite ways to learn a new skill, with courses on everything from music to acting to cooking. The best part? Every course is taught by an expert in the field, and many are also A-list celebrities.

MasterClass is normally a very good deal, with a $15-a-month subscription getting you access to every course on the site. However, you can save 50% on...

Substack is seeing explosive subscriber growth this year, with the crazy political environment and a strategic push into audio and video helping it do so.

Substack co-founder Hamish Mckenzie tells The Hollywood Reporter that the platform has passed 5 million paid subscribers. That is up from 4 million just four months ago, and 3 million a year ago.

A year ago, Substack says that half of its top 250 creators used audio and video as part of their regular content. Now that number is 82 percent, underscoring just how much audio and video content have transformed the platform.

“There’s been a large, big start of the year because of the political volatility. So there’s a bunch of people looking to make sense of what’s going on. There’s a bunch of either anti-Trump sentiment or pro-Trump sentiment that is driving people to look for new voices, and a bit of a shake...

Call it a blue wave. A host of actors, directors, musicians, journalists and other prominent people are dumping X (formerly Twitter) and flocking to social media platform Bluesky.

In the past week, an increasing number of bold-faced names have announced that they plan to post less on X, or leave the platform altogether, citing myriad issues with the social media company, including far right content, hate speech, transphobia, racism, harassment, pornography, crypto scams, bots and the political views of owner Elon Musk, the billionaire oligarch who is a vocal supporter and financial backer of Donald Trump.

Musk’s ownership of X and his updates to content moderation on the platform have been pushing brands and media groups closer and closer to the exit. This week, The Guardian media group announced that it will stop posting on X, describing the site as a “toxic media platform.” On Nov. 4, the Berlin Film...

The unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 4.3% in July, as hiring slowed to 114,000 jobs added during the month, according to the latest Department of Labor data.

The information sector took the biggest hits in job losses — including in entertainment and media — while employment increased in health care, construction, and transportation and warehousing.

Movies and sound recording saw a loss of 3,500 jobs, to 445,400, while publishing industries shed 5,900 positions, to 919,600. Broadcasting and content providers lost 1,600 spots to 338,900.

The overall job gains were lower than expected, and contrast to the average of 215,000 added over the prior 12 months.

There is much expectation that the Federal Reserve will begin a series of rate cuts next month, after a long stretch of relatively high interest rates as a way to tame inflation. The job market has so far defied expectations that the Fed’s actions would lead to a recession, as was the case in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Inflation eased somewhat in August, but it was far less than expected.

The Consumer Price Index rose 8.3 compared to the same month a year ago. That was down a bit from the 8.5 rate in July.

But month-over-month inflation still rose by 0.1, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after being flat in July. That has increased worries that the Federal Reserve has yet to get the increase in prices under control, and made continue its plan to raise rates to try to slow down the economy.

While there was a 10.6 decline in the gasoline index, there were sharper increases in the price of food, housing and medical care.

Economist Paul Krugman, op ed columnist for The New York Times, wrote on Twitter, “So this core reading may be telling us about the past, not the future. Given this reading, the Fed will have no choice about continuing to hike, but...

The success of President Joe Biden’s climate bill, which he’s slated to sign Tuesday, will not be judged by polls, or by the price of gas at the pump, or by the ferocity of the next hurricane that hits the Gulf Coast.

It will be measured in the clear air high above the Pacific Ocean at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. In 1958, when scientist Charles Keeling began measuring CO2 in the atmosphere at Mauna Loa, the level was 316 parts per million (250 years ago, before the industrial era,...

Update, 7:49 Am Pt: President Joe Biden said that “there’s no question the Delta variant is why today’s jobs report isn’t stronger.”

“Because of the groundwork we laid with the American Rescue Plan and our vaccination strategy, we are seeing an economy and a job market that can weather the ups and downs of the Delta variant, and anything else that comes our way.”

Biden called for passage of his infrastructure plan and a massive reconciliation bill, the latter of which would boost spending on child care, Medicare and other social programs.

He also decried corporate interests lobbying against the plan, as his administration has called for raising the corporate tax rate, as well as those on upper incomes.

“Our country needs these investments,” he said.

Previously: The pace of job growth slowed considerably in August, in what was seen as a sign of the impact of...

Adding in Hollywood royalties may boost Us economic growth by as much as 3%. Such creative accounting cannot end well

Hollywood creates fairytales on movie screens. Now it's going to help create fairytales about America's economic growth.

For the first time, the Us is changing the way it measures its economic growth, the measure we call our gross domestic product. Starting in July, the keepers of Us economic data at the Bureau of Economic Analysis will stand over the usual cauldron of Gdp – a stew that includes how much Americans consume, government spending, investment, exports and imports. They'll begin to add new ingredients that, in a puff of smoke, will create a more favorable, higher gross domestic product.

The new ingredients include Hollywood royalties from TV, movies and songs – some Tinseltown magic, really – as well as revenues from scientific research and development. Like a feelgood movie, this will make us feel positive,...

Author and columnist Niall Ferguson appeared on Bloomberg recently where he attacked New York Times economist Paul Krugman for resorting to ad hominem attack when he debates people who disagree with him. Ferguson himself resorted to an ad hominem when he said that Krugman’s debate style may be the result of “childhood trauma.” Krugman responded to Ferguson’s ad hominem, perhaps predictably, with a scathing attack on Ferguson’s ability to perform in his position as an opinion leader.