“The only concrete way to measure musical merit is by testing global impact, and the only way of counting that is by cash-till sales. Easier said than done. Until recently, labels have kept sales figures more tightly under lock and key than executive salaries, and for much the same reason. Lately, however, store-tracking technology and waves of label sackings have brought secrets into the open.”
Tag: 03.21.07
Will Internet Video/Radio Survive?
The stakes are huge for the future of internet TV and audio in the wake of Viacom’s billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube. “If the case proceeds to trial and results in a ruling favoring the cable operator, it could substantially raise the risks for companies that publish content of any kind online.”
Art In, Garbage Out? (Hmn… A Pattern?)
“Last week, a court in London awarded 350,000 pounds ($685,248) in compensation and legal costs to Ofir Scheps, a Swiss collector who had deposited a sculpture by Anish Kapoor with a specialist storage company, Fine Arts Logistics. Was it a regrettable, though one-off, error? Perhaps not. There is a pattern here.”
Maastricht Attendance Down (And That’s Good)
“The Dutch city of Maastricht drew 71,000 visitors to an art fair that closed this week, 15 percent fewer than last year. Organizers said they’d aimed to cut overcrowding in the aisles.” How? The admission price to the fair was hiked.
Finding Chopin’s Piano
A Music scholar has tracked down Chopin’s piano, missing for 160 years. “Prof. Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger traced the instrument to an English country home by researching the ledgers of Camille Pleyel, the Frenchman who built it for the Polish pianist and composer. Eigeldinger was able to identify the piano by its serial number.”
Jalbert Wins Lincoln Center’s 2007 Stoeger Prize
“At 39, Pierre Jalbert is one of the youngest composers ever to receive the $25,000 prize which is now awarded biennially in recognition for a body of work, or lifetime achievement in the field of chamber music composition, rather than for a specific piece of music.”
Report Damns Smithsonian
A blue chip committee analyzed the museums of the Smithsonian. “Its overall finding is that: The Smithsonian’s art collections, taken together, might be expected to be a kind of national encyclopedia of the world’s art, like those in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Chicago; but in reality they are not. [And] to the extent that their designation as ‘national’ museums implies qualitative superiority and leadership, they have seldom lived up to their names.”
Get Me To The (Concert) Hall On Time…
Last week’s snowstorms in the Northeastern US interrupted the travel plans of many musicians trying to get to their concert dates. Some bailed on canceled flights and instead rented car services to get them to their performances…
Smithsonian Called Underfunded And Disorganized
“The Smithsonian Institution’s eight art museums and galleries are perpetually underfunded, have uneven collections and leadership, and ‘have seldom lived up to their names’ as national museums, according to a report by a committee of outside museum directors. The conclusions, which will be released today, recommend reorganizing the Smithsonian’s arts institutions to eliminate duplication, increase funding and foster more collaboration among them.”
Opera Moves Beyond “Greatest Hits” Mentality
The arts media have been all agog in recent months over innovations being introduced to the opera world (notable, the Met’s simulcasting of live productions in movie theaters around the world.) David Patrick Stearns points out that though opera audiences are a notoriously conservative bunch, even by classical music standards, the changes had to come eventually. “Traditional views of traditional opera will always exist. But opera is among the greatest chameleons of the performing arts. It can be so many things. To make the traditional operatic experience the only experience is to cut off its tail.”