Category: music

What One Working Musician Earns On Different Streaming Platforms

Cellist Zoe Keating publishes her yearly streaming earnings in an effort to spark conversation about music royalties and help other artists better understand their finances. “I wanted people to see the difference between all of the services,” Keating said. “Down at the lower levels, no one knows what everyone else makes and no one knows what services pay. How can you make decisions if you don’t know what the numbers are?” – Business Insider

Pastor Tells Musicians They Are “Thieves” If They Take Money For Playing In Church

Rev. Dr. David Antwi, Head Pastor and founder of UK-based church Kharis Ministries, made the controversial statement during a service. “You are a thief if you play church instruments and collect money. You are a thief,” he says. Rev. Antwi argues that the instrumentalists should perform for the work of God and not for financial gain. – ClassicFM

‘There Is More Theatre In Here Sometimes Than In The Outside World’: At Milan’s Home For Retired Opera Divas

Yes, divos too. Since 1902, funded by revenues from the composer’s operas, Casa Verdi has been an old-age refuge for singers and musicians, not all of them famous. Today, some 60 retirees live there, paying according to their means. And, since 1999, they’ve been sharing the home with 20 music students, the elders providing the youngsters with lessons and guidance and the students livening up the place. – The Guardian

How Dead-Musicians-Touring-As-Holograms Became Serious Business

Yes, classical music types have rolled their eyes at dead-Maria Callas and dead-Glenn Gould tours, but rock is another matter. Since the long-departed Tupac Shakur (re-)appeared at the 2012 Coachella Festival, the field has grown, with recent concerts by the images of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and Frank Zappa posting impressive ticket sales and a full tour by a reanimated Whitney Houston coming this year. And with the acts that form the bedrock of the live music touring business made up of people now in their 60s and 70s, and with recently-dead stars like Prince and David Bowie still having legions of fans, the musical hologram business may soon be booming. Reporter Mark Binelli watches the hologram creators at work. – The New York Times Magazine

Largest Musicians’ Union Plans Major Cuts To Pensions

“The plan, the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund — which covers more than 50,000 people, including Broadway musicians, players in some orchestras, and freelance musicians and recording artists — declared over the summer that it was in ‘critical and declining status’ and would run out of money to pay benefits within 20 years. … Now its trustees are taking the rare step of trying to cut benefits that have already been earned by many of the plan’s participants.” – The New York Times

After Seven-Year Vacancy, Pittsburgh Symphony Names Principal Pops Conductor

Byron Stripling, the former lead trumpet of the Count Basie Orchestra, “has conducted the [PSO] as a guest and will make his debut as principal [pops] conductor in October. This is only the second time the orchestra has named a principal pops conductor. The first was the renowned Marvin Hamlisch, who was hired in 1995 and died in 2012.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How The Newton Brothers Got To Be Masters Of Horror Music

When they started collaborating in 2011, they didn’t plan on their composing careers revolving around the stuff of nightmares. And the work, they’ll freely admit, can exert a psychological toll. “Being in a dark room staring at dark imagery for a long time, it does get to you. Sometimes you need to step aside and go watch ‘Finding Nemo’ with your niece.” – The New York Times

All Songs Are The Product Of Other Songs (Cue The Copyright Trolls)

The idea that this might be actionable is the new twist. Every song benefits from what preceded it, whether it’s a melodic idea, a lyrical motif, a sung rhythm, a drum texture. A forensic analysis of any song would find all sorts of pre-existing DNA. A copyright troll exploits that, turning inevitable influence into ungenerous and often highly frivolous litigation. – The New York Times