Recording companies are trying to sue their fans into not downloading music for free off the internet. But while the move seems to have dissuaded some, there’s no indication that such disaffected fans have actually turned to using legal online services. It comes down to this: do musicians want people to listen to their music or not?
Tag: 05.04.04
Senator Has Questions For Smithsonian About Strads
A US Senator wants to question the Smithsonian on the gift of four Stradivarius violins it received from Herbert Axelrod, a New Jersey businessman who is on the lam in Cuba after being indicted for tax evasion. “It is troubling that the Smithsonian may be turning a blind eye to tax mischief. Government agencies should be working in concert, not against each other. . . . Donors shouldn’t be able to get away with playing the taxpayers like a fiddle.”
The Unexpected Grammar Book
Lynne Truss on her best-selling grammar book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation”: “I’m not a grammarian or a linguist or a professional editor and I don’t want to pretend that I am. Punctuation was a topic that felt knowable, containable. If you get into the larger subject matter of grammar you do need to study it and I’ve always been a little intimidated by academe, although now my old college, University College London, has invited me to be a Fellow, which is nice.”
Self Publishing Hits The Big Time
“Call it self-publishing, vanity, subsidy, or print-on-demand publishing. It’s all related, in that the author pays the publisher rather than vice versa, and with the advent of digital technology, it’s become big business.”
Polls Split On File-Sharing
Polls about attitudes towards music file-sharing are contradictory. Most people believe artists should have control of copyright. But many don’t think file-sharing is wrong. Even among musicians, the polls are split. “Thirty-five per cent said that free downloading has helped their careers. Then again, 30 per cent felt that file-sharing in general poses a “major threat” to creative industries.”
Chicago ‘Zines And Success
“The basements of Chicago have spawned a noisy, pugnacious little industry: self-published magazines. Aimed at the erudite and hip, attention-grabbing local titles from The Baffler to WhiteWalls and TENbyTEN have won small but loyal audiences from New York to Los Angeles and beyond. Now several of Chicago’s upstart journals are dealing with an unexpected state of affairs: They are encountering small signs of success.”
NY Artists Get Ready For Republicans
New York Artists are getting energized for this summer’s Republican convention in their city. “Dozens of arts organizations are making plans for at least four nights of political theater during the convention at East Village clubs, established theaters like Symphony Space, public libraries and of course the streets. The Internet is throbbing with information and strategies exchanged by people often identifying themselves by first name only or by acronym. They want to make it clear that this is not the same old same old.”
Trucker Theatre Comes In From The Road
The Hull Truck players are Britain’s best-known vagabond theatre company. But now it’s time to settle down. “Named after the elderly lorry which formed their first base, the Hull Truck players are to move to a £13.6m arts centre, the designs for which go on display in the Yorkshire port this week.”
Oakland Ballet Gets Leg-Up On Fund-Raising
Oakland Ballet needs $500,000 by the end of the month or it will go out of business. What seemed like an impossible fundraising goal, though, is now closer. “The troupe, which had collected about $53,000, now has announced the pledge of a matching grant of $200,000 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Sufficient contributions to match that grant would put the ballet within $47,000 of its goal.”
Classical Winner – But Of What?
This week the BBC televises the finals of its BBC Young Musician of the Year. The live broadcast is a rarity. “In an age when the competition’s viewing figures have plummeted from 20 million in its heyday to an anticipated 1.5 million this weekend, what kind of future can the winner look forward to? Is classical music living on death row? Is it really a tougher place to be than ever before? And what pitfalls lie in wait for an unsuspecting young musician suddenly catapulted to fame?”