The online song market is officially getting crowded in Europe, with the continental launch of Apple’s iTunes, which has sold 70 million songs in its first year of operation in the U.S. The cost of a single download from the European site will be 79p (€1.19), and a full album will cost £7.99 (€12). Meanwhile, media company OD2 announced plans to launch an online “penny jukebox” where listeners can hear songs for 1p apiece, although they cannot download the songs.
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The Great Florida Debate
Ever since Richard Florida published his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, urban planners and thinkers around the U.S. have been lining up either to sing Florida’s praises or to knock his ideas as half-formed and unrealistic. “Many of Richard Florida’s critics try to marginalize his theory of the creative class as being just about a few kooky artists in Austin. They are wrong… As governments take a serious look at his ideas, billions of dollars spent on subsidies of politically-connected industries hang in the balance.” So isn’t it time for a serious, substantive debate on the issues that Creative Class raised?
Just In Case You Were Worried That Roseanne Was Getting Ripped Off…
An agreement has been reached between the recording industry and the union that represents TV and radio performers which would give the artists the right to audit their recording companies to insure proper royalty payments. The deal must be approved by the California legislature before becoming law.
Taxing Sports To Pay For The Arts?
Michigan is hoping to restore the 50% of state arts funding that was cut from last year’s budget with an unprecedented per-ticket tax on sports and entertainment events. Despite the financial difficulties faced by many of Michigan’s arts groups, the state ranks sixth in the nation in arts funding, and the new tax would bump it up to second. But the proposal faces a tough road ahead in the conservative state legislature, and the governor has yet to even take a position.
Hoping For Status Quo
The upscale Marshall Fields department store chain is being purchased from Minneapolis-based Target Corporation by the decidedly cut-price May Department Stores, and the changeover is causing some nervousness in the Twin Cities’ top arts organizations. Marshall Fields has a history of being extremely generous to Minnesota cultural groups, and while May insists that it has no immediate plans to scale back Fields’ charitable arm, such largesse doesn’t seem to fit May’s overall business plan.
Moore’s Latest Crusade
Filmmaker Michael Moore is kicking dust yet again over the American distribution of his anti-Bush film, Fahrenheit 9/11. This time, his wrath is directed at the Motion Picture Association of America, which is apparently engaged in a vast conspiracy to prevent teenagers from viewing Moore’s work by giving it an ‘R’ rating. The MPAA points out that the film contains graphic images of burned and dismmbered corpses being dragged through the streets of Iraq, but Moore counters that, since the 15- and 16-year-olds of today are very likely to be recruited to be the military men of tomorrow, they should have the right to see the nightmare into which they could be sent.
Is Stability For The Arts Too Much To Ask?
The UK Arts Council has released a study indicating that the arts are more popular than ever in Britain, and yet, the Council is concerned about its own future. “The council is a government arts body to promote, fund and develop the arts. Its current funding deal will see it receive £412m in 2005/6. But it is worried it may lose out when it learns details of its new funding settlement in the next few months.”
Congress Questions Smithsonian Strad Deal
The US Congress is questioning a Smithsonian deal that brought the museum four Stradivarius violins for $50 million. “The high-profile gift, one of the museum’s largest ever, allowed its donor, Herbert R. Axelrod, a New Jersey businessman, to claim what his lawyer confirmed was a tax break of around $32 million. Mr. Axelrod fled to Cuba in March after being indicted on unrelated charges of tax evasion.”
Is Joyce Really Worth All The Fuss?
So why all the fuss about celebrating the 100th anniversary of the events in James Joyce’s Ulyses? “This mass devotion to James Joyce is a fine example of a spreading trend in tourism in which a dead author becomes a lure for living admirers and the merely curious.”
A Virgin Gets Her Saints Back
“Three masterpieces painted by El Greco for the same chapel but separated for nearly 400 years went on display together for the first time in Spain yesterday, at Madrid’s Prado museum. The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, a towering altarpiece considered to be one of El Greco’s greatest works, was reunited with two paintings of saints, lit up by her radiance, which the artist designed to flank her.”