Entertainment News: Music Festivals, Metaverse Experiences, and More

A look at the entertainment industry news from PR Newswire in March and April that you might have missed.

 

Entertainment News Trends, March-April 2023

 

By Cliff Moore | Published May 9, 2023

 

Entertainment is, well, an entertaining topic… and for this reason, more than 2,000 press releases highlighting the latest in the industry were distributed over PR Newswire in March and April of 2023. 

Subject matter varies widely over our entertainment vertical, covering typical music, movie, book, and television news, but also others like art, publishing, radio, and advertising.

There was no shortage of news to start the year in entertainment as we moved through award season, past The Big Game and its highly sought-after commercials, and now emerging into spring with events like Coachella, the Cannes Film Festival, and Met Gala, to name a few.

But there was other news you may have missed that didn’t center around these events that garnered a lot of attention over our network. Let’s take a look at the top entertainment press releases and trends we have noticed over this two-month period.

The Most Popular Entertainment News Releases

In March and April, the following entertainment-related stories received the most views and engagement over the wire:

  • Da Brat, whose career has spanned decades in rap music and film, collaborated with her wife, Jesseca "Judy" Dupart, a natural hair care mogul, and created the KALEIDOSCOPE X DA BRAT Styling Collection. The collection sold out in 6 minutes.
  • Nickelodeon Studios greenlit the all-new feature film The Thundermans Return. The movie, centered around the superhero family from the original hit show, began production in April, with premiere details to come at a later date.
  • Unreleased recordings from Frank Zappa have been pulled from the vault.  The 1970s tracks, edits, and masters will be released in June.
  • TIME revealed its 2023 TIME100. The annual list, printed with four different worldwide covers, highlights the 100 Most Influential People in the world.
  • With a heavy serving of cuteness, Cadbury revealed the top 10 finalists of the annual Cadbury Bunny Tryouts. The list of entries included everything from dogs, cats, and guinea pigs to beavers, ducks, and horses.

 

 

Entertainment News Trends

Here are a few of the more prominent trends noticed among PR Newswire’s entertainment releases, with a sampling of examples from each:

Music Festivals

Nothing brings the noise, quite literally, like a music festival. 

There are hundreds of music festivals each year in the United States, ranging in size for both attendance and performers. They’re held mostly throughout the spring, summer, and fall, so music fans can get their fix for months on end. 

For March and April, it was all about the returns of popular music festivals like Coachella, SXSW, and Ultra.  And in the upcoming summer months, festivals like Bonnaroo, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, and Burning Man will have everyone’s attention. 

And we mustn’t forget about all the other festival news peppered throughout.   

During the past two months, music festival releases covered all the important details, from ticketing info to headliner and lineup announcements to sponsorships, to name just a few.  While some of these events won’t happen until later this year, companies are getting their news out well in advance to build excitement and anticipation for these coveted experiences.

Celebrity Partnership Campaigns

As stated earlier, February bombarded us with marketing material from companies all over the country on football’s biggest night. Seemingly no industry, product, or service was left untouched.

But marketing and advertising surround us every day, not just during that Sunday night in February. Without it, industries would look vastly different. In fact, PR Newswire would not likely be here. PR Newswire exists because of it. 

So naturally, PR Newswire pushes out thousands of stories a month that mention "marketing" and/or "advertising" — more than 9,000 between March and April alone.

However, a particular type of campaign release seemed most prominent in March and April of 2023, and that was celebrity partnership releases. 

These noteworthy announcements were full of engaging material and details that left readers wanting more:

The Metaverse

It’s a term you have undoubtedly heard over the past few years.  But what does it mean?

To be frank, it’s a bit confusing to most. But after consulting some articles from Meta, Wired, and Vice, among others, it’s a little more clear.

According to Vice, “the metaverse is supposed to be a 3D version of the internet that is seen as the logical next stage of development, and would ideally be accessed through a single gateway.”

And Meta explains it like this: “Like the internet, the metaverse will help you connect with people when you aren’t physically in the same place and get us even closer to that feeling of being together in person. The metaverse is the next evolution in social connection and the successor to the mobile internet.”

Wired reports that the metaverse “can include virtual reality—characterized by persistent virtual worlds that continue to exist even when you're not playing—as well as augmented reality that combines aspects of the digital and physical worlds.”

Plenty of gaming companies are already accessing the metaverse and creating experiences in the entertainment space.  Other companies are even using the metaverse to further differentiate their offerings and build an even more immersive world with their products.

More than 300 releases were sent through PR Newswire in March and April 2023 that mentioned the term “metaverse.” 

Here are a few entertainment examples from those two months:

Conclusion

With summer on the way, we’ll continue to send out releases all about the music festival scene as more and more events and lineups are announced.  And as we know, the advertising landscape will continue to enthrall us with new campaigns and products to grab our attention and take our money.  And as for the metaverse, well, that looks like it’s only going to get bigger and more complex from here as more and more companies find their spot within it.

It will be interesting to see what trends emerge in May and June. One thing to expect is news surrounding summer blockbuster films. However, with the writer’s strike currently underway and the landscape of the film industry changing, it remains uncertain. 

But in strictly positive news, Pride is celebrated in June and companies are sure to spread the love and joy throughout the entertainment space and that's something to look forward to. 

 

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About the Author

Cliff Moore headshotCliff Moore is a Senior Customer Content Specialist in PR Newswire's Customer Content Services Department and has been with the company since 2013. When not assisting clients with their press release needs, he enjoys all things pop culture, plants, hosting gatherings, and playing any game you can think of.