A good year for music of the 20th Century. Who won what. – Los Angeles Times
Tag: 02.25.00
ONLY IF YOU DO IT OUR WAY
As the technology and music industries merge into one, the majors want to encourage the transition to digital downloading, but only with companies willing to play by their rules. The unanswered question is how users will fare in the recording industry’s playbook. – L.A. Weekly
“UNREADABLE, UNINTELLIGIBLE, INCOMPREHENSIBLE”
Judging by his last three projects, David Mamet is in a major slump. Now a scathing London Times review of the author/playwright’s new book, which is so bad, goes the speculation, it can’t even find an American publisher. Mamet’s American agent refuses comment. – Boston Globe
CHAPTERS ON PARADE
Canadian mega-bookseller Chapters defends itself to Canadian government inquiry into the book business. Chain denies it has tried to run independent bookstores out of business. Independents have claimed that Chapters has 55 per cent of the Canadian market. “This is categorically false,” says Chapters. “We have somewhere between 20 and 23 per cent of the consumer book market in Canada.” – CBC
IT’S NOT ME
Authors worried about publishing sensitive writing have a new, anonymous way of doing it – online. – Wired
DON’T BEAT A DEAD “CATS”
Please oh please oh please say it isn’t so – since the announcement that “Cats” will close in June, ticket sales have sky-rocketed, making it the hottest show on Broadway. The whiff of “extend-me” is in the air. – New York Times
CRACKDOWN
- Three robbers were recently executed in China for stripping a tomb of murals with the intention of selling them. Is China cracking down on the plundering of cultural artifacts? – The Art Newspaper
BLOOD IN THE WATER
With Sotheby’s and Christie’s busy with investigators, the auction-house competition behind them consolidates. After buying Phillips, the world’s third largest auction house, less than four months ago, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton buys Tajan, France’s largest auction house. The deal will allow Phillips to enter the French auction market, which remains closed to foreign auctioneers. It will also give Tajan’s customers access to the London and New York markets, where Phillips has sales and where taxes are lower than in France. – New York Times
- And: Sotheby’s/Christie’s problems could level the playing field. – BusinessWeek