The Daily Valet. - 6/23/21, Wednesday

✔️ The Return of Good Times

Wednesday, June 23rd Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

I think I’m ready to go full electric when it comes to my next car.

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Concerts Are Back

After an 18-month hiatus, big live events are expected to return to their pre-pandemic glory

After a solid year and a half, live music—in front of a live crowd—is back. Cities across the country have lifted (or, at least, eased up) their COVID-19 restrictions, and it’s finally safe for us to gather among strangers.

The Foo Fighters kicked things off with a big show Sunday to celebrate the reopening of New York’s Madison Square Garden. It was the first time in over 400 days since the iconic venue has held a concert, and according to one music writer, it was as cathartic as you’d expect it to be.

As more artists and bands get ready to hopscotch around the country again, it’s actually getting hard to keep track of all the tours and music festivals.

According to Recode, events professionals see the number of events and event attendance reaching and potentially surpassing pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Not surprisingly, outdoor events, like music festivals, pose less of a risk for COVID-19 infection and are thus recovering more quickly. On Tuesday, we “geriatric millennials” got our own nostalgia festival, Just Like Heaven, with the likes of Interpol, Modest Mouse, M.I.A. and Franz Ferdinand performing at the Rose Bowl stadium in California.

Thankfully, most venues are no longer requiring masking (especially for those who’ve been vaccinated), but some are so make sure you do your homework before heading out. And if you need a little refresher on concert etiquette to help get you ready, InsideHook has you covered.

↦ Dig Deeper: Live-music professionals who work on big tours share their thoughts with Rolling Stone as restrictions ease and the concert business gets back into gear.

The Future of TV

Streaming keeps growing, while the hit show is apparently dead

Sometimes, a single fact can shake your world. And here is one of those facts: Mare of Easttown—the smash HBO show that seemingly everyone was talking about for the past few months—was not seen by nearly 99% of Americans.

The television hit, perhaps the most abiding of entertainment traditions, appears to be dying. And according to astute observers quoted in the Washington Post, it may already be dead. They say a wide-reaching unifying show is gone. In its wake are a hundred Twitter niches—and a dangerous lack of common culture.

Much of the shrinking audience is due, in large part, to the move to streaming. Streaming currently accounts for 26% of all time spent on TV, according to new data from Nielsen. But nearly 7 million American households dropped their traditional pay-TV service in 2020, a record high. The average American now already pays for four video streaming services, according to a Deloitte survey from April.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg just signed a multi-year partnership with Netflix—a move that's both surprising and considered a sign of the major changes taking place in the industry.

↦ FYI: Vulture says Pluto is the “weirdest, freest streaming service you aren't using.”

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Banksy Loses Trademark Dispute

The artist may need to reveal their identity to own the art

Besides being one of the art world's best-kept secrets, Banksy's anonymity has always been a key component to his success. (While the artist is often gendered as “he” in the media, there's no confirmation the artist is male.)

But the end of that secrecy may be coming soon, after a recent ruling by the European Union Intellectual Property Office stripped the reclusive street artist of trademark rights to two of his artworks, citing his hidden identity as a key cause in the loss of copyright.

The British greeting cards company Full Colour Black persuaded the EU panel to cancel trademarks the artist obtained years ago for his works Radar Rat and Girl with an Umbrella. The company claimed the original art is simply graffiti sprayed in a public place, and the panel agreed.

Of course, Banksy may not be all that bothered. He famously said copyrights are “for losers” and that he encourages people to “copy, borrow, steal, and amend” his work. These latest rulings open the gates for people to do exactly that. Which is why experts are saying that if the artist wants to retain ownership of his work, Banksy may be forced into revealing his identity.

↦ Dig Deeper: Despite the anonymity, verified works attributed to Banksy continue to sell for huge sums of money. Artlife examines how the artist collects the money.

Electric Cars Save You Money ...

The U.S. Department of Energy recently crunched the numbers, and it’s surprising

It's pretty clear that electric cars are the future. A recent report from the International Energy Agency stated over 3 million new electric cars were registered last year—a record amount and a 41% rise compared to 2019.

And while currently, traditional internal combustion engines generally cost less up front, the costs over the lifetime of a car are clearly on the side of electric vehicles.

Motor Trend puts it simply: EVs have fewer moving parts than their engine-powered counterparts. There are no engines to maintain, no belts to check, no oil to change; the list goes on and on ... and now the U.S. Office Of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has recently given us insight into just how much cheaper electrics can be as part of a look at the government's own vehicle fleet.

The raw numbers break down to a couple of cents per mile, but when you factor in the costs over the life of your average car, the savings for electric can run anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000. Not bad, right?

↦ FYI: Car and Driver has compiled a list of the 12 best-selling electric vehicles of 2021 (so far).

In Other News

↦ GOP Filibuster Blocks Democrats’ Big Voting Rights Bill

↦ Tinder Is About to Look More Like TikTok and Snapchat

↦ Porsche’s New Infotainment System Might Play Background Music That Adapts to How You’re Driving

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The new ‘Ted Lasso’ trailer

A smarter way to learn

America’s best ice cream

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