Music giant EMI announces that it will put 90 percent of its music catalogue online. “The company is to make available for sale online over 140,000 tracks from over 3,000 EMI artists, allowing customers to burn music onto CD-R, copy tracks to portable players and purchase singles online as soon as the songs are serviced to radio and in advance of their commercial release on CD.”
Tag: 04.23.03
Going For The Fastest Book
Forty German writers are hoping to set a record for the fastest book by conceiving, writing and printing a book in 12 hours. “After the authors have finished their writing, the contributions will be subbed by editors and then sent to the publishers. Organisers hope to have 1,000 copies printed before the 12 hours is up, and a party is planned to celebrate the record attempt.”
Louisville Orchestra Might Miss Payroll
The Louisville Orchestra warns it might not be able to make next week’s payroll. The orchestra is carrying an $800,000 debt. Orchestra musicians say they’ll play a series of concerts next week during the Kentucky Derby celebrations in hopes of raising money so they can be paid later.
Shakespeare In The Towns
Thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts, “the Shakespeare in American Communities project, which is to be officially unveiled today (the 439th anniversary of Shakespeare’s presumed birthday) will bring professional-quality performances of some of his fundamental works, accompanied by educational programs, to some 100 small and midsize American cities in all 50 states.”
Now The TV Programs Are The Ads
“No longer content to merely buy time when remote controls and digital video recorders like TiVo make ad-skipping its own participation sport, sponsors are weaseling into programs in a manner that hearkens back to the men of Texaco introducing Milton Berle.”
Why British Ballet Training Is So Bad
Former Bolshoi and Royal Ballet star Irek Mukhamedov is staging a ballet for the London Choildren’s Ballet. But he’s apalled at the dance training British students get. “There are still too many second-rate teachers out there who might have a passion for ballet but who are simply not equipped to give children the training that underpins real classical technique: “They haven’t been taught the correct exercises. Sometimes they really don’t know what I’m talking about. Worse still, they can’t think for themselves.”
Dia Beacon – A Major New Showplace For Art
The Dia Foundation is opening a new home in the Hudson Valley town of Beacon, about an hour north of New York City. “The Dia:Beacon is on 31 acres along the Hudson and is a five-minute walk from a Metro North train station. Its 240,000 square feet of exhibition space is more than four times the exhibition space of the Whitney Museum of American Art and not quite twice the size of the Tate Modern in London.”