Category: music

“Almost 75% of music pirates would stop if told to by their ISP, the survey of 1,500 UK consumers found. The research looked at the digital habits of consumers and found that the abundance of online music services was convincing many to go straight.”

“Record companies should be able to increase revenues from digital sales amid a crackdown on illegal downloads and file-sharing, according to the report by Entertainment Media Research. Its latest Digital Music Survey, now in its fifth year, suggests that the industry should use growing opportunities to make money out of music online to make up for a long-term decline in CD sales.”

“The report said that those who listened for five hours a week at high-volume settings exposed themselves to more noise than permitted in the noisiest factory or work place. Maximum volume on some devices can generate as much noise as an airplane taking off nearby.”

Instead of relying on the existing institutions to help them out, the Irish Composers Collective have found strength, support, and – more importantly – artistic independence by creating their own community.

“An operatic project can go wrong in many ways, of course, since it demands a complex collaborative process in which music, singing, text, drama, dancing and design are somehow brought into balance. Still, two recent West Coast productions exemplify common pitfalls facing the creators of any contemporary opera.”

“Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music… [he] lasted only about 15 minutes.” The idea of the sentence “was to force Vactor to listen to something he might not prefer, just as other people had no choice but to listen to his loud rap music.”

Despite the runaway success of Western classical music there, the Chinese Communist authorities have recently become nervous about works with Christian themes, regardless of their place in the canon. A Messiah by the visiting Academy of Ancient Music was made invitation-only; the Mozart and Verdi Requiems have been restricted; even part of Carmina Burana(!) was censored.

“Nicolas Joël, noted stage director, director of the Opéra de Toulouse and general director designate of the Opéra National de Paris, was felled by a stroke in late August. Joël, 55, remains hospitalized in Toulouse.”

“Within the next two months, three music venues capable of holding 8,000 concertgoers will open in Los Angeles. Even with the economy faltering, venue operators and promoters believe the simple law of supply and demand will keep the concert halls full, provided the ticket price is appropriate. Other industry execs, however, think the city may have a glut on its hands.”

“The concert hall of the 21st century has arrived. And the building that encases it would be remarkable if it had only that. The 1,200-seat hall in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute here (Empac, to its friends), which opened over the weekend, seemed a notable acoustical success on brief early exposures.”