“Under the U.S. Copyright Act (in contrast to many copyright regimes in Europe), once a piece of art is sold all rights to the physical work belong to the buyer. No matter how much the art appreciates in value, artists aren’t due a penny when the work is resold. All of the profits belong to sellers, not to creators.There is only one exception to that rule in the United States: the 1977 California Resale Royalties Act, a so-called droit de suite law that grants artists a continuing interest in their work when it changes hands.” Now a judge has said the California law is unconstitutional – sorry, artists.
Month: May 2012
Keeping The Family Together Through Storytelling – That Is, Audiobooks
“Wilson missed a step in his account of our early socialization: the moment someone first got up in front of the fire and told a story that showed the others — especially the children — the magnificence of the universe around them, and made them want to be bigger-souled than they’d been so far. Somewhat further down the evolutionary path, our family does its campfire storytelling by way of audiobooks in the car.”
With Audiobooks, What Really Matters Is The Voice
Audiobook fans know the truth: The quality of the writing matters, but what affects listeners most is the quality of the reader.
Big F*cking Surprise: Swearing Characters Are More Popular In YA Novels
“Across the 40 books studied, characters who swore were more likely to be wealthier, more attractive and more popular or socially influential, the researchers reported.”
Florida Orchestra Librarian Knows The Score – Actually, All Of The Scores
Ella Frederickson, who preps more than 21,000 pages of music a season for the Florida Orchestra also plays the cello and the theremin, works as Marin Alsop’s personal music librarian – and now serves as the president of the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association.
Time To Toss ‘New Writing’ For Something Wilder And, Perhaps, Newer?
“The ‘New Writing’ play, like the ‘Well Made Play’ before it, exists as some sort of ideal to which new writers are supposed to aspire. This sense of what makes a good play has crept into the way workshops are run, courses are structured, feedback is given and, most damaging, into the very heart of the relationship between producers and artists. In teaching narrative, characterisation and structure, we are teaching a very particular set of aesthetic values predicated on creating a very particular kind of play.”
Amazon Customer Reviews Really Are As Good As The Pros (Harvard Business School Says So)
“Amazon reviews are just as likely to give an accurate summary of a book’s quality as those of professional newspapers, according to a study from Harvard Business School.”
What’s The Hot Thing At Cannes This Year? Literary Adaptations
“The Cannes festival is, famously, the keeper of the flame of the auteur tradition. … Since the turn of the millennium, only two winners of the Palme d’Or have been literary adaptations: Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, and Laurent Cantet’s The Class. … This year, however, things are different: it is a bookworm’s Cannes, with directors as likely to have had their noses buried in novels as dreaming up original ideas.”
This Will Probably Be A Trend: Tajikistan Bans Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator
“First it was Kazakhstan that was left unamused by Borat. Now it’s the turn of its neighbour Tajikistan. The central Asian country has decided not to screen Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest spoof blockbuster, The Dictator, after authorities concluded the movie was incompatible with the nation’s ‘mentality’.”
LA Philharmonic Signs First Overseas Broadcast Deal, With UK’s Classic FM
“The Los Angeles Philharmonic will launch its first international radio broadcast partnership with England’s largest classical music station. The agreement with Classic FM announced Friday includes a 14-part concert series of recorded concerts under the name ‘Live with the L.A. Phil,’ broadcast Fridays starting June 1.”