The the band Wilco’s recording company wanted changes in the band’s latest album, the group decided to leave and make its work available over the internet. It’s been a good business move as the group has built a following. Why don’t more musicians embrace downloading? “What if there was a movement to shut down libraries because book publishers and authors were up in arms over the idea that people are reading books for free? It would send a message that books are only for the elite who can afford them. Stop trying to treat music like it’s a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can’t be cheap, either.”
Tag: 11.17.04
Pittsburgh To Nonprofits: Help Us Out, Or Else
Pittsburgh is asking nonprofit corporations in the city to kick in $6 million towards its financial recovery efforts, and warning that groups refusing to participate could face political retribution down the line. Among the threats from city and state lawmakers are that non-participating nonprofits could have state grants withheld, or even face the loss of their nonprofit status, which allows them to operate tax-free.
Public Theatre Picks Its Next Chief
“The board of the Public Theater, [New York’s] signature nonprofit theater company, is expected today to hire Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I., as its next producer. If approved, Mr. Eustis, 46, will succeed George C. Wolfe, the current producer, and become just the fourth person to hold a job that is considered one of the most prestigious in the American theater… Mr. Eustis will probably face considerable challenges as the Public Theater producer, a job that often requires one to be equal parts diplomat and dictator, artist and administrator.”
But She’s Been Such A Paragon Of Journalistic Integrity!
Celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley is being sued by an Alabama writer who claims that she plagiarized parts of her recent book on the Bush family from an article he wrote for a web site. Kelley’s publisher doesn’t deny that parts of the article were reproduced verbatim in the book, but claims that “it was not protected by copyright, was of minimal scope, did not damage Mr. Wilson and was covered under the legal doctrine of ‘fair use.'”
Handle With Extreme Care
MoMA’s move from Manhattan to Queens and back to Manhattan may have been a public relations triumph, but it was a logistical nightmare the likes of which would cause the most experienced moving company to break out in a collective flop sweat. The woman who has single-handedly overseen the moves is named Jennifer Russell, and her job over the past two years has demanded the combined skills of curator, stagehand, travel agent, and international diplomat.
V&A’s New Architecture Gallery Opens
London’s Victoria & Albert Museum unveils a spectacular new architecture gallery this week, and the curators have an astonishing collection on which to draw. “The display can be changed almost infinitely, encouraging repeat visits and allowing keen visitors to construct a picture of how buildings have been commissioned, designed, built, perceived and appreciated – or not – over hundreds of years… Although handsomely designed in a perfectly rational manner by the Glaswegian architect Gareth Hoskins, the collection of architectural riches is the museological equivalent of a box of expensive, gift-wrapped chocolates: temptation layered upon temptation.”
Labour, Tory, Or Redgrave?
Actress Vanessa Redgrave and her brother Corin, also an acclaimed stage actor, are starting a new political party in the UK. “Its manifesto calls for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq; the cancellation of third world debt; the return of Britons held at Guantanamo Bay and the release of all foreign nationals held without trial in the UK.” The party is not expected to have any actual influence on the British political system, and seems to have been conceived largely as an attempt to draw attention to the issues of human rights which have long been championed by the Redgraves.
Street Smarts: A Deal Gets Done In Philly
An all-night bargaining session between the musicians and management of the Philadelphia Orchestra has led to a tentative 3-year agreement, thanks to another intervention from Philadelphia Mayor John Street. The musicians will take a wage freeze in the first year, but by the third year, they will have the highest minimum salary of any orchestra in the US. The musicians’ pensions will also be moved from an in-house plan to the national plan administered by the players’ union, and there will be a temporary reduction in the number of full-time musicians. Mayor Street’s involvement in the talks was applauded by both sides, and it was evident that a deal would not have been possible without his mediation.