“Critics of a controversial U.S. copyright law applauded a jury’s decision Tuesday to acquit a Russian software firm charged with creating an illegal encryption-disabling program… The acquittal, announced in federal district court in San Jose, California, brought to a close the first federal criminal trial of a company accused of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act… DMCA critics say the jury showed an unwillingness to convict a company merely for creating a program that others might use to commit acts of copyright infringement.”
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NEA Awards Major Classical Music Programming Grant
Minnesota Public Radio has received an NEA grant of half a million dollars, to “strengthen public radio’s classical programming nationwide.” MPR is one of the biggest programmers of classical music in America. Its Classical 24 satellite service supplies hundreds of public radio stations with music programming.
British Music Group Reports Piracy Up 36 Percent
The British Phonographic Industry reports that piracy of music rose 36 percent in the past year. “The music industry watchdog said figures from 2001 showed a massive rise in the number of fake and pirated CDs seized in the UK. The figures are based on the number of seizures in the UK in 2001, and represent £27 million worth of music.”
San Jose Makes It Official
In a foregone conclusion of events that began months ago, the San Jose Symphony has officially filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and gone out of business. The symphony had been unable to dig its way out of a massive financial hole, even after its struggles became a rallying point for musicians and music-lovers nationwide. But in the wake of the SJS’s demise, a new orchestra has sprung up in the city, allied with the San Jose Ballet.
Near-Sweep For Heaven at NY Film Awards
Todd Haynes’ Technicolor retroflick Far From Heaven took home an armful of awards at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards this week, including best picture, director, and cinematography. Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation also garnered awards.
In The Red, And They Couldn’t Be Happier
“Optimism is running so thick at the Canadian Opera Company these days that not even a half-million-dollar deficit can dampen it. The COC announced Monday evening that it spent $476,000 more than it took it in 2002, snapping a five-year string of balanced budgets. Yet, with sod-turning for a Toronto opera house only months away, there was none of the chastened rhetoric usually heard when a company runs deep into the red.”
Why Tracking The Bestsellers Might Not Be Good For Business
One of the frustrations of tracking the book industry has been getting accurate sales data. BookScan offers a solution and “allows publishers to improve their marketing efforts, while also managing their stock more effectively.” It’ll transform the publishing industry, many say. Yes it will, writes one refugee from the music world, where SoundScan revolutionized the tracking of music sales. But it might not be a good thing for those who love books…
From The Big Screen To The Bookshelf
People who value literature have often lamented the dominance of movies and television in today’s popular culture, fearing that such passive entertainment would eventually bury forever reading as an entertainment. But in the last few years, blockbuster movies such as Lord of the Rings and The Talented Mr. Ripley have sent moviegoers scurrying to bookstores in search of the titles that inspired the films. Publishers, naturally, love the trend.
Jonathan Franzen’s Inner Child (Get Over It)
“As with so many of his generation, Franzen is conflicted about conflict. Arguing is what grownups do when they are mad (Mommy, Daddy, don’t fight); and swagger doesn’t play well on the current scene, which has partly converted into a Generation X recovery ward for the depressed, medicated, and formerly addicted children of divorce. He is not a masochist, he is a shrewd passive-aggressive (aren’t they all?), courting sympathy by constantly telling us where he hurts and fastening reader interest on himself, regardless of the issue or controversy…”
From The Big Screen To The Bookshelf
People who value literature have often lamented the dominance of movies and television in today’s popular culture, fearing that such passive entertainment would eventually bury forever reading as an entertainment. But in the last few years, blockbuster movies such as Lord of the Rings and The Talented Mr. Ripley have sent moviegoers scurrying to bookstores in search of the titles that inspired the films. Publishers, naturally, love the trend.