U.S. CD sales fell in 2006, but downloads were way up. No surprise there, but did you know that classical music was the fastest growing genre among all music sales? Chris Anderson, author of a book on niche marketing, thinks he knows why. “Classical is so badly served in traditional bricks-and-mortar music stores [that fans are forced to turn to downloading.] The fact that it’s one of the largest categories on iTunes, despite the demographic mismatch with the typical iTunes customer, is evidence that consumers are flocking online for choice.”
Tag: 01.04.07
Highly-Touted Women’s Project Loses Leadership
The Off-Broadway “Women’s Project, a 28-year-old company that has nurtured the careers of established artists like Emily Mann and Suzan Lori-Parks, and of young writers like Karen Hartman and Neena Beeber, is now without an artistic leader and likely to remain so for some time.”
Study: China’s Art Dynasty KOed By Weather
The prolific Tang Dynasty was extinguished by a shift in monsoon weather patterns, says a study. “Famed for a flowering of art and literature and for prosperity brought by trade with India and the Middle East, the dynasty spanned nearly three centuries, from AD 618 to 907, before it was overwhelmed by revolt.”
Minnesota Ponders Tax For The Arts
“A Senate bill that proposes a constitutional amendment to increase the state’s sales tax by three-eighths of 1 percent and dedicate the money for water, wildlife preservation, arts and the humanities was introduced on Thursday and fast-tracked for its first committee hearing.”
Hollywood’s Near-Record Year
“Hollywood bounced back in 2006 as movie ticket sales hit $9.4 billion (all figures U.S.) – the second-highest single-year gross in domestic box office history, according to final numbers released Tuesday. Bolstered by a stellar New Year’s weekend at megaplexes, the year’s ticket revenue just missed the record $9.45 billion the industry took in during 2004.”
Two Brit Indies Join Up
Two of Britain’s leading independent publishers are to join forces, following the acquisition by Profile Books of the imprint Serpent’s Tail.
India’s New Lit Generation
Everything about India seems to be booming these days. And a new generation of writers is carving out a new place for itself on the world stage.
US Recording Sales Down In 2006
“Nielsen SoundScan said U.S. album sales fell to 588.2 million units in 2006, from 618.9 million units in 2005. Digital track sales rose 65 percent to 581.9 million units in 2006, pushing overall music sales to 1.19 billion units, according to the music retail monitoring company.”
Looking Inside The Brain
MEG scanners, which have been around for awhile, and which measure activity in the human brain, are suddenly becoming very popular with researchers. “You can look at how the networks of the brain are talking to each other in real time.”
The Brazilian Orchestra And $1 Tickets At Carnegie Hall
Joao Carlos Martins was a quirky brilliant and accident-prone pianist. Now he’s turned to conductying. “In Brazil, we only have orchestras sponsored by the federal and state governments. So when I took my first conducting lesson three years ago, I wanted to show that I could create a private orchestra that could support itself on private sponsorship and box-office receipts. Nobody believed me. But during 2006, we gave 50 concerts in Brazil.”