Total listenership slipped last year from 27.2 Million to 26.8 Million, and some worrisome trends are appearing…
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Toronto Film Sales Record
The Toronto Film Festival generated a record $52 million in film sales this year. “The sales included $29 million in domestic film sales and $23 million in international sales. Titles from Brazil, China, Germany, and Spain were sold this year, alongside films from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K.”
New Life For New Operas?
“For decades now, the pattern has gone more like this: An opera company, spurred on either by a particular dramatic idea or some generalized sense of wanting to do what’s right, commissions a new work from a composer of greater or lesser renown. An initial run is scheduled, perhaps followed (especially if there are co-commissioners) by a second production elsewhere. The world premiere comes off with lots of fanfare, and for a week or two, all eyes are on the company giving the premiere. Critics fly in from throughout the United States and Europe and proffer their opinions. Then the run ends and the opera is never heard again.” But there are signs this pattern is changing…
Are US TV Nets Adding More Commercials?
“Commercial time per hour on the networks hasn’t gone up significantly since last season. However, over the past decade, the networks have gradually added two minutes of commercials. But commercials, particularly on ABC, are inserted in a way that can be maddening, leaving the impression of far less programming time.”
Pittsburgh Freelancers Finding Jobs Scarce
With Pittsburgh Ballet opting for recorded music, and touring shows like the Rockettes doing the same, finding work for Pittsburgh-area freelance musicians is becoming tougher…
Does Hollywood Know How To Sell Stories About Women?
“Hollywood knows how to sell a movie to the 12-to-24 age group. (See Doom and Saw II.) And it knows how to sell a movie to boys and men. But studios have less experience selling to an older demographic, especially when the headliners are female.”
France Extends Cultural Hand To New Orleans
France is offering a cultural helping hand to New Orleans in trying to rebuild the city. “Among the projects expected to be announced is an exhibition of some 50 works of art lent by the Louvre to the New Orleans Museum of Art for an exhibition tentatively scheduled for late 2006 or early 2007.”
Video iPod Videos Selling Big
“Less than three weeks after unveiling its video iPod, Apple Computer has sold 1 million videos that play on the portable device. ‘Selling 1 million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal downloads. Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings’.”
How Google Print Helps Books
“Imagine a card catalog that (a) lists every book in every library anywhere, (b) shows you the title of every such book containing the search phrase of your choice (‘Crimean War,’ ‘HIV genome,’ ‘clown fetish’), and (c) gives you this information whether you’re online in your bedroom or at an Internet café in Ulaanbaatar. This index is what Google Print is poised to be, and yes, it does stretch the definition of ‘card catalog’ to the breaking point. Just keep in mind the one way in which Google’s version scarcely differs from the classic: If you want to read more than a snippet or two of the texts you’ve located, you still have to go get books.”
St. Paul’s Arts Mayor Loses Artists Over Bush Support
By most accounts St. Paul’s Randy Kelly has been a terrific mayor for the arts. “But artists, who generally lean to the left of center politically, are weighing that steadfast support against what many consider to be an unpardonable sin: The Democratic mayor endorsed Republican George W. Bush in the last presidential election. ‘I know he’s well-intentioned and a good guy, but that kind of collapse shows the lack of vision and strength that we need.”