Since the near-demise of the vinyl LP, consumers and critics alike have lamented the concomitant death of the art of the album cover. But the connection between the contents of an album and its packaging may be making a comeback. “Computer graphics are making album covers — some of them, anyway — all the more intriguing, even in the age of the criminally scaled- down cover art of CDs. An album cover has no business not being a work of art.” Still, with single-song downloads seeming to be the wave of the future, how can album art possibly adapt?
Blog
Look, Another Windmill To Tilt At!
The record industry is apparently not yet tired of its seemingly unending quest to rid the world of already-defunct file-trading services. The latest already-dead victim: Puretunes, an online service that offered users unlimited song downloads for a flat fee. Puretunes, which was based in Madrid, lasted about three weeks, then shut down without explanation, but the industry wants blood, anyway, suing the owners of the service in a Washington court.
The Biggest Little Art Museum Garners Raves
“With its single black staircase and a breathtaking rooftop sculpture garden, Reno – Nevada’s ‘biggest little city’ – has a renovated art museum that takes the town a step beyond the gaming industry. The new Nevada Art Museum is a four-story, 60,000-square- foot black steel building that is reminiscent of a ship at sea. It is four times the size of its predecessor and includes a 180-seat theater, several galleries and a restaurant. But the feature that has drawn the most attention is the rooftop sculpture garden and its views of the snowcapped Sierra.”
Save Canadian Art! Revoke NAFTA Now!
A new survey of Canadian culture reveals that the dollar value of Canada’s ‘cultural exports’ last year was a record CAN$2.3 billion, with U.S. consumers accounting for 96% of that purchase total. But Canada’s cultural import business grew even more, despite the insistence of Canadian citizens that they want to buy home-grown. (The U.S. is the culture-gobbling villain in this equation, too.) The Canadian publishing industry was hardest hit by the lack of import-export balance, and the only corner of the arts not badly affected was the film industry.
Avignon Cancelled As Strike Continues
France’s Avignon Festival has been called off, with no end in sight to the strike by the nation’s arts workers. “The opening days’ events were cancelled, but organisers had hoped to salvage the later stages. Those hopes were dashed early on Thursday, when actors voted to continue their strike, dealing a fatal blow to the event.” Avignon was to have run for three weeks.
Jealous Muggles Hit Back
It had to happen, of course. With the Harry Potter series rocketing to the top of the list of literary blockbusters, other authors are beginning to take some nasty little swipes at Potter scribe J.K. Rowling. The latest entry in the bash-Harry sweepstakes comes from Booker Award-winning author A.S. Byatt, who calls Rowling’s work derivative, simple-minded, and composed “for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip.”
Could This Be A Real, Live, Literary Feud?
If A.S. Byatt expected the literary world to line up behind her following her tirade against Harry Potter, she’s still waiting. Authors and publishers have apparently chosen their side, and are calling Byatt “a snob,” “churlish,” and “jealous.” One book critic also notes that Byatt is the very same writer who threw a “hissy fit” when author Martin Amis accepted a hefty advance for his future work.
40% of CDs Are Illegal
The global market for illicit copies of CDs has exploded, according to a new report from the record industry, and “the illegal music market is now worth $4.6 billion globally.” New technologies have made it possible – and simple – to copy not only the contents of a traditional CD, but the cover art and liner notes as well, and the industry estimates that, for the first time, the number of illegal CDs in existence has topped a billion. According to the report, two of every five CDs sold are illegal copies, often without the knowledge of the buyer, and there is no end in sight.
‘New’ Rembrandt Goes For Nearly £7 Million
“A Rembrandt self-portrait which lay undiscovered for centuries after it had been painted over has sold for £6.94m at auction in London. It was bought by US billionaire casino tycoon Steve Wynn during a transatlantic telephone bid at Sotheby’s. The portrait, painted by the Dutch master in 1634 when he was 28, lay hidden under layers of paint for more than 300 years.”
French Strikers Shut Down Avignon Fest/Nicholson Movie Shoot
Striking French arts workers shut down shooting on a Jack Nicholson movie in Paris (after meeting with strikers, Nicholson expressed his solidarity) and closed the Avignon Festival for a second day. “At the Avignon festival in southern France, organizers said the remainder of the three-week event – which draws 700,000 people a year for round-the-clock theater performances – will be decided each day the strike continues. They say they stand to lose $3.7 million in ticket sales alone if the event is called off.”