YouTube has announced the 50 winners of its 2015 YouTube Music Awards, which were selected this time around by data analysis of growth in views, subscribers and engagement during the last six months on the Google-owned video site. The honorees include mainstream acts such as Ariana Grande, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift — in addition to YouTube stars including Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix. The 50 artists collectively represent more than 164 million subscribers and 47 billion video views on YouTube. Continue reading YouTube Turns to Big Data for Selecting Music Awards Winners

In a ceremony at the Ray Stark Theater on USC’s Cinematic Arts campus last Thursday, Dean Elizabeth Daley joined George Lucas in welcoming three USC film professors to their new endowed chairs. Made possible by a generous gift from Lucas, the three new chairs — The Sergei Eisenstein Endowed Chair for Cinematic Design, the George Mélies Endowed Chair in Visual Effects, and the William Cameron Menzies Endowed Chair in Production Design — are now held by Bruce Block, Michael Funk, and Alex McDowell respectively. Continue reading USC Cinematic Arts Professors Installed in New Endowed Chairs

PandoDaily and TheWrap are among those reporting that visual effects industry workers are planning a demonstration outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood during Sunday’s Academy Awards to protest ongoing efforts to send post-production work overseas. The group believes that offshoring has led to a slow collapse of the VFX industry in the U.S. While there was little the effects industry could do about this in the past, it may now be armed with a new weapon based on the MPAA’s attempts to combat Internet piracy. Continue reading VFX Industry Plans Oscar Demonstration to Protest Offshoring

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced that Yahoo! will serve as its official digital partner for streaming live from the red carpet and behind-the-scenes during the Primetime Emmy Awards. This marks the first digital partner for the Academy outside of the broadcast networks. When the Emmy’s air on CBS on September 22, Yahoo! will deliver live streaming action from the red carpet, head backstage during the program, and offer exclusive content following the broadcast. Continue reading ATAS Names Yahoo Official Digital Partner for Emmy Awards