“The biggest mistake the labels are making is they’re letting their lawyers make technical decisions. Lawyers don’t have any better understanding of technology than a cow does algebra. They insist on chasing this white whale.”
Blog
Hollywood’s Disappointing Fall Box Office
Hollywood has not had a good fall. “The North American box-office total for the fall was $1.34-billion, down nearly 4 per cent from the $1.39-billion registered in 2004. The latest tally was down 18 per cent from the record-shattering $1.63 billion collected in 2003. Because ticket prices have increased slightly, estimated admissions for the fall presented an even bleaker picture of the season. Estimated ticket units were 208.1 million, down nearly 8 per cent from the 223 million reported a year earlier and well shy of the record 268.3 million rung up in 2003.”
Canadian Arts Funding Questioned
Canadian Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says oversight of Canada’s cultural spending is a mess. “The general state of oversight in funding and tax credits for the arts is poor, Fraser’s report found. Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency do not apply controls rigorously enough to ensure that requirements covering Canadian content, project selection and eligibility of expenses are met.”
Cologne Orchestra – Opportunity Or Exploitation?
Musicians of the New Cologne Philharmonic are freelancers and earn less than their European union colleagues. “While other major orchestras charge anything from $21 to $72 for a seat, the Cologne New Philharmonic has just one price — $24. It opts out of the familiar European formula of state support and job security, gets no state subsidies and relies on box-office receipts alone. The influential French and German musicians’ unions contend that his use of mostly Eastern Europeans at nonunion wages amounts to exploitation.”
Will Musicians Return To New Orleans?
“The musicians of New Orleans have been blown to the wind and the big question is whether they will ever return. The thing about musicians is that they play to make a living so they go where the work is – and that place now is New York or Houston or even London or Lyon in France.”
Librarian Of Congress: A Technological Revolution
“Libraries are inherently islands of freedom and antidotes to fanaticism. They are temples of pluralism where books that contradict one another stand peacefully side by side just as intellectual antagonists work peacefully next to each other in reading rooms. It is legitimate and in our nation’s interest that the new technology be used internationally, both by the private sector to promote economic enterprise and by the public sector to promote democratic institutions. But it is also necessary that America have a more inclusive foreign cultural policy — and not just to blunt charges that we are insensitive cultural imperialists.”
World Libraries To Contribute To International Digital Library
The Library of Congress is leading a project to build a world digital libraray. “Librarian of Congress James Billington said he is looking to attract further private funding to develop bilingual projects, featuring millions of unique objects, with libraries in China, India, the Muslim world and other nations. This builds on major existing digital documentary projects by the Library of Congress — one preserving an online record of Americana and another documenting ties between the United States and Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.”
A Plan For A Cole Porter Museum
Citizens in Peru, Ind., have bought Cole Porter’s boyhood home and are planning to open a museum dedicated to the songwriter. “Led by town mayor Jim Walker and working largely from donations, the group raised the cash to buy the house last year. They plan to refurbish it and open it to the public next summer.”
Seattle Newspaper Cuts Classical Music Critic
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reassigned its classical music critic, making him a general assignment arts writer. The paper says it’s not cutting back on classical music coveraqge, and that it wants to cover it differently. But “even if the classical crowd winds up with as much coverage as ever, some fret that the switch from a staffer to a freelance critic might signify to readers a lesser commitment to the arts.”
BitTorrent Caves To Movie Studios
Owners of the popular downloading software BitTorrent have settled with major movie studios over downloading policies. “The agreement requires 30-year-old software designer Bram Cohen to prevent his Web site, bittorrent.com, from locating pirated versions of popular movies, effectively frustrating people who search for illegal copies of films. BitTorrent must remove Web links leading to illegal content owned by the seven studios that are members of the Motion Picture Association of America.”