More than 70 cultural groups have proposed setting up homes in the World Trade Center project. “The development corporation has not set a date by which a decision would be made. Site plans include a museum, a performing arts center and smaller cultural spaces. The proposals will be evaluated by the corporation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.”
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Philly Orchestra Raises $76 Million
The Philadelphia Orchestra confirms a $50 million gift and another $26 million raised towards an endowmwnt. “Leonore Annenberg, the widow of philanthropist Walter H. Annenberg, has pledged $50 million to the ensemble, orchestra leaders acknowledged. The gift, first reported in The Inquirer two weeks ago, is believed by orchestra administrators to be the second largest ever made to an American orchestra. Also yesterday, the orchestra announced that it had gathered an additional $26 million in pledges to its endowment campaign, whose goal is $125 million. Orchestra officials said the new money would give the ensemble the resources to make its ambitions, often hobbled by financial ills, into reality.”
Inside Job – Movie Pirates
A new study says that most movie pirating is done by movie industry insiders. “Seventy-seven percent of films uploaded during this period were apparently created during production or distribution. Some simply appeared online before their cinema release – meaning they must have been leaked. Others were posted after their cinema release but displayed text indicating they were made from a pre-release review DVD. Some even showed evidence that they had yet to be edited, for example, they might contain a stray microphone at the top of the frame.”
India’s Bollywood Ban
Sepaaratist groups in northeast India are calling for a ban on Bollywood movies. “They say the Hindi-language films undermine local culture and values, and that erotic song and dance sequences are a bad influence on young people. A ban is already in effect in Manipur state, forcing many cinemas to shut down or find other sources of income. The cinema owners and distributors say the move to ban the films would only lead to greater piracy.”
E-Books – Will They Survive?
With publishers getting out of publishing e-books, some wonder if e-publishing is dead. “E-books may find their niche with tech-savvy youth unfazed by the notion of browsing literature on a screen, and the growing legion of retirement-age readers, according to Richard Doherty, research director at Envisioneering Group. Two audiences that will benefit best are young people who loathe the idea of a library … and aging people who want the convenience of large type on demand or freedom from lugging heavy hardcover tomes. For now, e-books are an afterthought in the publishing world.”
RIAA’s Failed Strategy
The recording industry is doing itself n o favors with its war on music file traders. “In its current action, the RIAA, which is claiming damages of thousands of dollars per download, may have the law on its side, but that will matter little in the end. Indeed, it’s far from clear whether the group’s legal threats will even have any, let alone much, impact on unauthorized file sharing. There’s no mass exodus [from file-sharing services], that’s safe to say. Ironically, usage this week and this month is up… More important, even if the RIAA is somehow successful in actually stamping out file sharing (which it won’t be), that doesn’t mean that CD sales will necessarily pick up. “Many of these individuals [who use file-sharing services] have gotten out of the habit of buying CDs. They think CDs are too expensive.”
Suing Kids -Maybe Not The Most Sympathetic Strategy
The recording industry could have made itself sympathetic – all those people downloading and stealing music. But suing music lovers… and a 12-year-old girl no less… “Suddenly, the trade association – in its effort to squelch illegal music sharing over peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and Grokster – looked more like a schoolyard bully.”
Up The Amazon – Digitizing Non-Fiction
Amazon is digitizing nonfiction books to create an online database that can be searched by keywords. Publishers are wary but going along so far. “The plan, first reported about in the New York Times in July, is seen as a way to draw more traffic to the Amazon site as it competes with search engines such as Google and Yahoo.”
Lloyd-Webber To Leave Art To UK
Theatre producer Andrew Lloyd-Webber says he’ll leave his art collection to the British people when he dies. “Lord Lloyd-Webber’s collection is described as one of the finest in private hands and includes works by Picasso, Canaletto and Rossetti.”
Music That Describes Our World
“Tone-painting differs from musical expression in that it seeks tangibly to conjure physical things in tone. This idea has been around as long as music has. An ancient Greek story tells of a master of the aulos, the classical double-pipe instrument, who improvised a description of a battle so hair-raising that people were talking about it for the next 200 years.” Bach was the ultimate master of it, but Beethoven, Liszt, Wagner and Brahms were expert at painting scenes with music.