Tag: 03.22.07

Curious Timing In Internet Royalties Ruling

Internet radio could be headed for another period of contraction after “a recent ruling that will increase royalty rates for music distributed through digital channels. The timing is interesting, coming as it does just as new devices that let listeners ‘tune’ Internet radio stations (using a wireless connection), much as they do conventional radio, are hitting the consumer market. Internet radio, some say, could eclipse such technologies as HD and satellite radio.”

The Artists’ Disease (Pssst! – It’s Why You’re Poor)

“Baumol’s cost-disease (sometimes more prosaically referred to as the Baumol-Bowen effect) is well-known among economists and arts administrators. First described by economists William J. Baumol and William G. Bowen in 1966, the main symptom of the disease is this: labor costs in the performing arts will always inexorably rise, and at a faster rate than other industries. That’s because in most industries, technological advances allow for increased productivity without an increase in labor. This doesn’t happen in the performing arts, though.”

Did Corporate Cash Castrate New Katrina Doc?

A new Imax film about the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina seems a bit incomplete, as it somehow manages not to say a word about the political and societal dysfunction that have made Katrina a lasting blot on the American landscape. So “why does a film that seems so insistent on decrying the loss of wetlands end with little more than an anodyne lament and some empty hope? Roll the credits: The film was made with money contributed by Chevron. And Dow Chemical. And Dominion Exploration and Production, a major power company.”

Cleveland’s Big Messy Film Scramble

When you’re running a film festival, it’s vitally important that you actually have films to show. And at this year’s Cleveland International Film Festival, that seemingly simple necessity was a lot harder to come by than you might imagine. “Half of the print had arrived. The other half… was on a sealed FedEx truck somewhere in Ohio or Indiana.” And then Canada got involved…

Dancing For Their Lives (And Others’)

Like most arts genres, the dance world was hit hard by the AIDS crisis, and fifteen years ago, the dancers of the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet organized a benefit called “Shut Up And Dance” to raise money for an organization that cares for those suffering from the disease. The benefit, which has become an annual event, gives dancers a chance to choreograph their own work, and raises as much as $150,000 per year.

Another Attempt To Ban “Huck Finn”

An attempt by parents in a Minneapolis suburb to have Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” removed from school curricula is sparking a discussion over the place of the word “nigger” in literature. So far, the book hasn’t been removed, but parents are appealing to the superintendent to intercede.

And No, You Can’t Get Your McCartney Half-Caf

Paul McCartney has been introduced as the flagship star in what Starbucks hopes will shortly be a thriving stable of recording artists. Yes, Starbucks. The ubiquitous coffee company, which has been selling CDs and DVDs in its stores for some time, is starting its own record label. “The label plans to sell albums through traditional and digital music outlets, with no advance sales and no additional content for Starbucks stores.”

Sounds Like The Next “Lion King”

What do you get when you combine a TV legend with a taste for verbosity with an indie band whose popularity is at its peak? Um, a stage musical, apparently. “The musical, based on the Flaming Lips’ psychedelic 2002 album, [Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot], will feature songs by the band and a book by [Aaron] Sorkin.”

NY To Get A Very Different Gehry

Frank Gehry’s first New York building promises to add “a much-needed touch of lightness to the Manhattan skyline just as the city finally emerges from a period of mourning,” says Nicolai Ouroussoff. “The results — almost pristine by Mr. Gehry’s standards — suggest the casual confidence of an aging virtuoso rather than the brash innovation of a rowdy outsider.”