The war on copyright piracy is looking increasingly like the war on drugs – a few stalwart enforcers desperately trying to hold back an unstoppable global wave of illegal activity. And the battles aren’t just in courtrooms and online: “Recently, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry helped set up a raid on a notorious market near Mexico City called Tepito – using 1500 armed officers. There was a four-hour long battle with racketeers before arrests were made.”
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Protecting Copyright Or Stifling Innovation?
“The [U.S. Senate] heard strong opposition from the technology industry on Thursday about a bill that would hold tech companies responsible for creating devices that could be used to pirate digital content. But Sens. Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy, the sponsors of the bill, are determined to move forward with the legislation.” The bill, which has been widely ridiculed for oversimplifying the problem of piracy to the point that devices like Apple’s iPod could be made illegal, is being heavily backed by Hollywood studios and the music industry. Those industries, incidentally, have contributed $380,000 to the campaigns of Hatch and Leahy since 1999.
Can An Art Fund Beat The Stock Market?
When Bruce Taub looks at art, he sees dollar signs. And his new investment company is hoping that other high-rolling investors will see it that way, too, and diversify their personal portfolios to include works his company invests in. “The company will establish a series of art funds for clients looking to diversify their existing portfolios. The funds will buy art, both privately and at auction, that their consultants think is undervalued.” Investors won’t actually get to take the art home with them, since the fund would own the works. Instead, they’ll reap the financial rewards (if any) when and if the works are resold.
The Feminine Ideal Wears Toe Shoes
What is it about ballet that has always caused the form to be inextricably linked to the adoration of women? John Rockwell says that, no matter how many male dancers achieve stardom, “a gauzy Romantic image of womanhood, no matter how tweaked with grandeur or anger or rage or seductiveness, remains central to the art.” The Royal Ballet, in New York this week, emphasizes the point with a new young crop of principal dancers, including four ballerinas “[representing] different facets of the ballerina archetype, past and present.”
A City’s Lessons For A Nation’s Leaders
The Democratic Party convention arrives in Boston next week, and Holland Cotter says that the pols could do worse than to leave the convention hall for a few hours of good old-fashioned Bostonian-American culture. “Utopian thought is a visionary version of yes-saying; principled dissent among the most constructive ways of saying no. The two are flip sides of the same coin; together they can bring out the best, and curb the worst, in human behavior. Boston knows all about them.”
How iPods Could Fail
Lost amid all the hype surrounding the iPod and its copycats is the fact that, despite the obvious consumer interest in digital music, no one audio file format has yet emerged as the industry standard. Songs downloaded in iPod’s format, for instance, cannot be played on Sony’s player. More importantly, with a few major media companies (like Sony) controlling the majority of the available product, Apple is running a significant risk of having the iPod become the new Betamax if its format doesn’t become the standard, and soon.
Flamenco Legend Dies
“The world of flamenco lost part of its soul this week with the death of Antonio Gades, who died in Madrid at the age of 67 after a long battle with cancer.” A lifelong Communist, Gades claimed to view dance not as a vocation or an art, but as a means to overcome the societal oppression and poverty into which he was born.
RSC Won’t Demolish Theater
The Royal Shakespeare Company has abandoned its plans to demolish its theater in Stratford-Upon-Avon as part of a major renovation project. The 72-year-old Royal Shakespeare Theatre had been slated for possible demolition under the RSC’s initial plan, but public opposition convinced the company to backpedal.
All Of A Sudden, Broadway Tickets Seem Like A Bargain
If you’re a classical music aficionado living in Korea, you’d better be prepared to dig deep for concert tickets. A recent tour performance by the Vienna Philharmonic featured an average ticket price of $214, and a show featuring the La Scala orchestra wasn’t far behind. In fact, the cost of seeing a concert in Korea is considerably higher than the cost of the same concert with the same ensemble in Europe. Promoters say that the discrepancy is due to a lack of government subsidy and corporate support for the arts.
Picking A Fight Over Pencils and Paints
Sydney artist Craig Ruddy was awarded Australia’s prestigious Archibald Prize earlier this year. But the award has sparked a vicious court fight and is drawing a lot of attention from the media, after painter Tony Johansen took the Art Gallery of New South Wales Trust to court over a technicality. Specifically, Johansen claims that Ruddy’s winning portrait is a mixed-media drawing, which should make it ineligible for a painting award. Nit-picking? Sure. But Ruddy is garnering a great deal of support from some interesting corners…