The musicians of the Houston Symphony have filed an official complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing their management of bargaining in bad faith, and of planning to impose new working conditions on the musicians by declaring an impasse a few weeks from now. The management wants to slash salaries and eliminate five string players outright in an effort to deal with years of financial problems, but the musicians insist that they should not be forced to bear the burden of management’s past mistakes. For a start, they’d like a look at the orchestra’s financial records, but so far, orchestra executives have refused to open the books.
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How Literary…Or Is It?
“What constitutes literary publishing? Is there such a thing as a purely literary publishing house? Is there a literary DNA or special skill set required to publish so-called literary fiction and nonfiction as opposed to broad mainstream books? Some publishers can be driven absolutely crazy by the notion that they aren’t considered literary enough. The reality is that there is no longer any such thing as a purely literary publishing house.”
Bestsellers Before The First Page Is Published
Books like the upcoming Harry Potter become bestsellers long before they even hit stores. “The growth of pre-sales is an interesting development in publishing. Of course in the eighteenth century an author could pre-sell his book by subscription as a way of supporting himself, but this is a different kettle of fish. Publishers love it because it lets them lock in sales without having to worry about returns. With enough hype or a strong enough brand name the whole enterprise can turn into a form of print-on-demand. It’s quite a testimony to the importance of marketing.”
Would You Pay $5 To Check Out A Book?
Would you pay $5 a book to check out books from your public library? That’s what the State of California proposes. Under Governor Grey Davis’ proposal released Friday, “the state would cut in half the amount of money it gives California’s 179 library systems, reducing annual subsidies from about $32 million to $15 million a year. To recoup some money, Davis proposed legislation allowing county libraries to charge $1 to readers who check out books in libraries outside the county where they live, and $5 to readers who have a book sent to their home library from another county.”
Australia Music Sales Down
Sales of CDs in Australia were down 5.5 percent last year. The Australian Record Industry Association “blamed several factors, including online and offline piracy, increased interest in DVDs and computer games, and tough economic conditions. The newest threat was backyard piracy, in which thousands of CDs were manufactured on home computers.”
Battle For The Mind
“American higher education has long had a dynamic tension between intellectualism – represented by the humanities and elite colleges – and more ‘practical’ education offered up by land-grant universities, observers say. But while the US university system is widely hailed for its quality, some fear the pendulum may be swinging toward an overall anti- intellectual approach.”
Should Australia Boost National Broadcaster’s Budget?
Australia’s ABC network wants a $250 million increase in its $675 million budget. ABC is supposed to serve television to all of Australia, but “at present it’s not doing it very well. Yes, its share of the television and radio audiences has risen. But in the overall scheme of things, it remains a distant fourth in the TV ratings – although its metropolitan radio stations are doing better.” Maybe it ought to drop plans for its digital service?
Europe’s Day Of Free Music
Struggling to develop an online strategy, European music producers have decided to offer free music downloads – for a day. “The campaign – Digital Download Day Europe – will allow music fans to download five euros’ (£3.40) worth of music for free from sites that pay royalties. The promotion takes place on 21 March and will be available in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK and The Netherlands. More than 150,000 tracks will be available to download, with a third able to be copied to CD.”
Salon’s Survival At Stake?
It appears as though it’s the moment of truth for Salon, the online magazine. “Once the Web was crowded with nervy upstarts such as Suck and Feed, new media sites that disparaged their traditional rivals as dinosaurs but were actually the first to disappear. Salon was one of the most celebrated – and, with 30 million page views a month, one of the most popular – but the online magazine has been struggling for years to reach profitability and recently has been teetering on the edge of insolvency. Now in what may be a last-ditch effort to stay alive, Salon is about to dramatically change its business model.”
Invisible Plays – The Names You Can’t Advertise
What happens when you’re producing a play with a controversial or offensive title? How do you advertise it? How do you get newspapers to accept ads for it? “Boston is the toughest market for controversial titles. Considering that we’re called the Athens of the East, it’s a very conservative, stodgy and puritanical market.”