Category: music

At Tanglewood, “the organization explored various alternatives to canceling the season, at one point sending a drone up above the expansive lawn to think about how social distancing might work. But with the thousands of people who congregate each summer in lines to the bathrooms and walk back to their cars at the end of the evening, … it just wasn’t feasible.” The economic pain will be widespread in the Berkshires. – The New York Times

Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada will pay musicians $150 per online performance for its members. The project is backed by $200,000 in funding every three months for the duration of COVID-19 lockdown period. Shares of royalties will go to all rights holders of the music performed. – Ludwig Van

By the time new Washington Post classical critic Michael Andor Brodeur confesses that he used to listen to Feldman at the supermarket and when stuck in traffic, you might think he’s not impartial enough to make a convincing case. Actually, he’s pretty persuasive: “Now, as the days repeat with barely perceptible variations like one of Feldman’s figures, his music isn’t just lending form to time as it drifts by, it’s recalibrating my sense of scale. And I’m not alone.” – The Washington Post

Spotify, which controls 36 per cent of the world streaming market, reported third-quarter operating proceeds of $60 million (all figures U.S.) in October 2019. YouTube, meanwhile, revealed its ad-revenue intake publicly for the first time in February: last year it was $15.15 billion, a 36 per cent increase from 2018’s $11.16-billion tally. And here’s what you’ve been offering the creators in return for all that content that has enabled you to attract and retain tens of millions of loyal subscribers — paltry per-stream or pre-view royalty rates of, by platform: YouTube, $0.00069; Pandora, $0.00133; Vevo, $0.00222-$0.0025; Amazon, $0.00402; Spotify, $0.00437; Deezer, $0.0064; Google Play, $0.00676; Apple Music, $0.00783; Napster, $0.019 and Tidal, $0.01284 (all figures according to the online music distributor Ditto). – Toronto Star

“If things are not yet 100 percent (in Chicago in September), it’s possible we could have a group of the orchestra divided into two parts: a group of 45, 50 people (and) another group of 45, 50 people. One part plays in the first part of the program, the other in the second part, so everybody can play, can come back to make music.” – Chicago Tribune

Five prominent pianists have released books recently. Some are collaborations, some a simple musings. All show an engagement with the world beyond the keyboard. – Van

“Scientists at the Charité in Berlin have issued a 13-page paper, at the request of seven Berlin orchestras [including the Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle], advising the distances to be observed in rehearsal and performance for the foreseeable future, and suggesting that orchestras might be able to meet again under the following conditions.” – The Strad

“The summer closure — the first in Bowl history — following the spring closure of Walt Disney Concert Hall has triggered the furloughing of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (65 musicians and staff) and 25% of the [Los Angeles Philharmonic’s] full-time, non-union workforce (about 50 people) through September. A total of 226 seasonal employees at the Hollywood Bowl have been laid off.” – Los Angeles Times

“There are many reasons why musicians continue to make music, both live and in the studio, right up until the end. In some cases it is out of financial necessity, and in other instances it is because of an addiction to the adrenaline rush of mass adulation, an experience rather harder to reproduce in the lavish surroundings of an exclusive retirement community. Even as we might good-naturedly mock and wince at what we see as the more absurd aspects of their careers, there is an enormous affection that exists between audience and act, especially if their fans have grown up with their favourites.” – The Critic