The Grammys have not enjoyed a good reputation among classical music critics. But there are a few encouraging trends developing with this year’s nominations – The influence of independent labels continued. “Across 12 categories, independent labels garnered 32 nominations this year and the majors 29, versus 31 for independents last year and 29 for the majors.” Also, writes Bradley Bambarger, this years nominees reflect “an impressive percentage of modern and rare repertoire figures across the field.”
Blog
Big Tech And Big Music Strike Deal
Technology companies and the entertainment industry have been fighting over whether laws ought to be enacted preventing requiring anti-copying hardware in machines. Now leaders of the two industries have made a deal. “Lobbyists for some of the nation’s largest technology companies will argue under the new agreement against efforts in Congress to amend U.S. laws to broaden the rights of consumers, such as explicitly permitting viewers to make backup copies of DVDs for personal use or copy songs onto handheld listening devices. In return tech companies – Microsoft, Intel, Dell, etc – will actively campaign against digital piracy.
A Matter Of Rights – Why Movies Aren’t Online
Even if they wanted to put movies online, movie studios aren’t able to, and it’s not likely to happen for a long time. Why? “Clearing rights to movies is the biggest single hurdle to Internet video on demand today. The studios would like to give us more, but can’t clear the titles. There are strange clauses attached to almost every film because the Internet either wasn’t contemplated or the contracts were loosely worded.”
Britain To Review Censorship Laws
The British government is undertaking a review of the country’s censorship laws. “It’s very hard to escape the concern that violent videos, violent films, violent music, violent games do influence some of the more impressionable minds. I think there’s a case for reviewing whether we should regulate more rigorously. There’s certainly a coarsening of attitudes.”
Vying For Your Attention: Talking Movie Posters
“Selling films threatens to become even more direct and personal with the interactive poster. An American company, Thinking Pictures, is developing posters that interact with patrons as they walk past. They would even match their taste in films, registered on smart cards in return for discounts, with trailers and screening times.”
Adfotainment – Did You Not Expect It Would Come To This?
As consumers are increasingly finding ways to rocket past commercials, TV “advertisers are demanding to have their products and brands integrated into shows, to be part of successful entertainment rather than just to sit disconnected alongside it.” Major networks are happy to oblige. “They approach the advertisers just as often as they are approached.”
Teaching As Intellectual Pursuit
Shouldn’t teaching be the subject of research? Not just what is taught, but how teaching works… “That is, teaching as intellectual work, which can be discussed, reviewed, critiqued, adapted, and built upon by peers. Part of that includes a belated recognition that the way people teach is related to what they teach; generic ideas on pedagogy have their use, but any serious effort to professionalize teaching in higher education, and to make it intellectually respectable as a topic of scholarship, has to be discipline-specific.”
Tracking Down Those Arts Stats…(I Know There’s Something Real There Somewhere)
So – more people attend theatre in Los Angeles than buy tickets for professional sports. It’s the kind of statistic that gets tossed around by those wanting to prove the relevance of an artform in the larger culture. But is it true? A LA Times reporter tracks down the truth. The real statistic isn’t really about theatre. And it’s an old one. Still, it originated from an actual study…
National Book Critics Circle Awards Nominations
This year’s shortlist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards is announced. “Reversing the usual trend, the critics’ picks were better known than the National Book Awards, which are voted by fellow writers and were awarded in November.”
If You Want To Win A Grammy The First Step Is Yours
Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, the songwriting and producing team known around the world as the Neptunes, were considered shoo-ins for a Grammy nomination for producer of the year, non-Classical category. But when the nominations were announced, industry insders were shocked their names were not on the list. What happened? They forgot to enter…