Why are recording company execs paying radio stations for airplay? “After congressional hearings revealed the extent of payments to DJs by record companies and distributors in the early 1960s, authority over what music gets on the air was taken out of disc jockeys’ hands and vested in radio station executives. But both executives and DJs continued to receive gifts from record companies, and large payments to stations by supposedly independent promoters hired by the record companies still make up an important part of radio station revenues.”
Tag: 08.07.05
In Los Angeles – A Better Way To Encourage Diversity? (Hmnnn)
This summer Los Angeles’ powerful Center Theatre Group eliminated four programs intended to help develop minority plays. Director Michael Ritchie says the programs weren’t effective. But Margo Jefferson wonders what the theatre plans that will be more useful. “Talent is not an equal opportunity employer. It certainly isn’t. Most of the plays produced by traditional mainstream theaters are written by white men; many of these plays are terrible. Quality isn’t the barrier. Access is. Experience is. Exposure is.”
Where Are The Women? In Orchestras (And Running Them)
“The competition for spots in major orchestras is fierce, and the path for women has its bumpy patches. Female orchestral players tend to be clustered in string sections, and brass sections are still largely a male preserve. Female conductors are still a tiny minority. But ambitious, talented female musicians just keep coming. Like their counterparts in the business world, some of them are now reaching the profession’s top ranks.”
What Is It With The German Cellists?
Is there a German school of cello-playing? Yes, in a way. Some prominent young German cellists are attracting attention. But “the classical music world is less like soccer than like bicycle racing: allegiances and teams are formed without much regard for national boundaries. And like bicycle racing, the pack is a group of fiercely competitive individuals. These German cellists acknowledge one another’s existence but are not exactly pals.”
The Difficulty of The Da Vinci Code (As A Movie)
The Da Vinci Code seems like a natural movie blockbuster, an easy slam dunk. But “Da Vinci, set for release in May, is shaping up as one of the movie world’s more complicated exercises – so much so that Sony has dropped a scrim of secrecy over the affair, refusing to discuss anything but the barest details. The script has been closely controlled. Outsiders have been banned from the set. And those associated with the film have had to sign confidentiality agreements.”
Naked Broadway
“In the last decade, though, nudity on and off Broadway has taken a decided turn for the male. An informal examination of Broadway and Off Broadway shows and a survey of longtime theater industry people showed that over the last 15 years, there have been about 25 plays with full frontal nudity. In a count of the nude bodies seen in those shows, 40 or so belonged to men, and only about 10 belonged to women.”
Download Music – To Buy Or Rent?
The online music business is changing. Now you have the option to buy, rent or subscribe. But there are drawbacks to each of them: “the rental outfits look more attractive if you think of them as services, like cable TV or satellite radio, rather than stores. Like satellite radio, you get music only while you’re still a subscriber. You pay $3 more per month than satellite radio costs, but you get to pick the songs.”
Dia – The Un-Guggenheim?
New York’s Dia Foundation gives a look at what will be its new home. “Dia could well be described as the art world’s un-Guggenheim. Both institutions are developing a network of spaces; both embrace contemporary art. But while Mr. Krens has pursued outposts around the world designed by big-name architects like Enrique Norten and Frank Gehry, Mr. Govan is fashioning a network of spaces closer to home that are as unobtrusive as possible.”