One of the big promises of the internet is that it will allow fairer better deals for recording artists. Says a record exec: “Cathartic as it is to vent at record companies and carry the banner for artist empowerment, it seems to me that many of the attacks on the inequitable sharing of the pie have been overstated. The problems most artists have with record companies (and there are many legitimate problems, don’t get me wrong) have nothing to do with how the money is divided up, so long as we are talking about acts that actually sell enough records.” – Inside.com
Tag: 05.24.00
AMICABLE SPLIT
A Cleveland orchestra splits in two. “Previously a 40-member ensemble that played repertoire for small orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra is set to become a 13-member, concertmaster-led group. The society also will sponsor a larger ensemble, the New American Orchestra, to play ethnic, educational and themed programs.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
PLAYING WITHIN THE PLAY
Novelist/playwright Michael Frayn’s new book “Celia’s Secret” is a literary practical joke: a story of how, during the run of his play “Copenhagen,” he received letters that seemed to shed new light on the nuclear physicists Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr (whose mysterious meeting in 1941 is the subject of the play). The letters, of course, soon turn out to be fakes, forged by one of his actors. – The Independent (UK)
HANDICAPPING NEXT WEEK’S TONY AWARD CONTESTANTS
Measuring the odds. – New York Observer
DIRTY LAUNDRY
UK Arts Minster Alan Howarth has selected a panel of experts to examine ways to crack down on Britain’s growing black market for smuggled art and antiquities. An estimated £500 million is laundered every year through the sale of looted artifacts from the Middle East and Africa, all of which can then be legally bought and sold in the UK. – Ananova