Major movie studios are worried about piracy. But how about smaller, indie films? Since indie films don’t open with “event” releases, there’s no rush for pirates to copy movies and sell them. Still, a popular indie movie can find itself being undercut at the box office by bootleg copies.
Tag: 03.11.04
The Changing Face Of The Fabulous Nederlanders
For over a quarter century, Nederlands Dans Theater has been shaped by Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian, long its artistic advisor and still chief provider of its repertory. But, judging by its opening program of a two-week New York run, Tobi Tobias writes that “the choreographer has abandoned the rooted-in-the soil-eyes-on-the-stars mode in which he forged his reputation for the sex-cruelty-and-angst-as-gorgeous-visuals realm that we know best from high-end fashion photography of the last decade.”
Cultural Capital? Us? We’re Honored… But No…
A day after an international group announced that the Canadian province of Saskatchewan would be the “2005 American Capital of Culture” governmental officials turned down the honor. “It turns out the Spanish-based organization of the same name wanted $500,000 US to pay for an international promotional package to extol the virtues of Saskatchewan’s ‘great cultural tradition in the editorial and audiovisual sectors, as well as in folk art and visual arts’.”
Groups Sue Over DVD Copy-Protection Law
Last year America’s FCC decided that DVD players would have to incorporate copy-limiting technology. Now a coalition of consumer advocacy groups is suing over the new law. “What is at stake is what kind of rights we have when most media is digital. We want to make sure that rights aren’t taken away because the material is in a different format. We want this technology to be the best it can be, not the second- or third-best.”
Creating A Marketplace of Ideas: But First, The Bill
Do we get the culture we deserve? William Osborne takes a look at the way America and Europe promote their cultures. There is, he reports, an obvious reason why Europe has more orchestras, operas, and dance companies and why the citizenry seem more culturally literate.
Will How We Consume Music Change The Music Itself?
“Although there has been plenty of debate about the legalities of downloading, one important question has so far gone unasked: will downloading affect how pop music sounds in the future? In other words, will the way that people access music have an effect on the content of that music?”
Ballet Pacifica Lives
Southern California’s Ballet Pacifica isn’t dead after all. The company is going to present a new story ballet and is looking for a new artistic dirctor. “This is the first news about the future of the 42-year-old chamber-size ballet troupe since late January, when Christina Lyon, a former dancer with American Ballet Theatre, resigned as artistic director. Lyon had been in the job only seven weeks. Her departure came just days after the board canceled Ballet Pacifica’s spring repertory season and its respected Pacifica Choreographic Project.”
Dance Music – The Challenge
The dance music industry gathered in Miami Beach this past week for the annual Winter Music Conference. “New technologies and the Internet were identified by panelists throughout the conference as key in various aspects of dance music’s future. According to Forrester Research, the online music market will soar from about 3 percent of sales currently to about 30 percent by 2007.”
Tanenhaus Named NY Times Book Review Editor
Sam Tanenhaus has been named editor of the New York Times Book Review. “Before joining Vanity Fair in 1999, Tanenhaus was an assistant editor for the Times’ Op-Ed pages. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1998 for his biography “Whittaker Chambers” (Random House), about a key figure in the Alger Hiss spy trial. The book won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography. Tanenhaus has a master’s degree in English literature from Yale University.”
More On Voigt – An Exceptional Case?
Soprano Deborah Voigt’s sacking by Covent Garden because she was too big for the costume designed for the production is an example of misplaced priorities. “Voigt’s case is exceptional: it’s hard to think of another singer who was dumped for not having the right looks. What is noticeable is that European companies are giving stage directors an increasingly active role in casting. In some cases, it’s the only way to attract a top-flight director. Visual realism is becoming as important as the right voice type.”