Category: music

“Independent artists have been complaining for years that Apple was deaf to their requests to include their music at the iTunes Music Store without applying digital rights management (DRM) software. The reversal makes it even less understandable why independent artists who want to release their music via iTunes but without DRM have been unable to do so.”

Classical music recording is dying? No. While major labels have languished, a myriad number of small labels have filled the marketplace. “The myriad budget or specialist labels that have arisen to fill the gaps left by the majors, often produced and even financed by the artists themselves, are now reaping the rewards. ‘As consumers, it means we’ve never had so much choice and so much freedom’.”

Time was, classical music in the popular culture conveyed High Culture class. “These days, many advertisers look to classical music for its comedic potential, something that many in the classical music business see as an opportunity. ‘We’re trying to smash preconceptions of classical music as being old-fashioned wedding or funeral music,’ says Ken Krasner, senior music consultant at Boosey & Hawkes, the world’s largest publisher of classical music. ‘We try to project fun – young, ironic, snide, energetic’.”

“We should not underestimate the emergent sea-change taking place at Scottish Opera since it hit the skids three years ago. The effective silencing of the company for an entire season was a risk, but there are emerging signs that the outcome could be a healthy one.”

“Sales of CDs, music DVDs and other physical music formats in Canada fell 12 per cent in 2006, CRIA said in a statement released Thursday. And then things got worse — first quarter sales in 2007 were down 35 per cent, according to industry statistics.” Digital downloads didn’t make up the losses. “There were just 20 million songs downloaded legally in Canada in 2006, compared with 1.3 billion illegal downloads.”

The Independent newspaper takes violinist Tasmin Little under a bridge and has her perform. “The saddest part was watching children being forcibly removed from the suddenly discovered thrill of international-quality classical violin-playing by parents who just didn’t have the time for it. Even if our own lives are too driven to let in great artistry, spiritual excitement and the revelation of the sound of a Strad, shouldn’t our kids have the chance to experience them? Because they do want to; and that fact made the saddest revelation also the happiest.”

The LA Phil’s surprise announcement of Venezuelan wunderkind Gustavo Dudamel as its next music director caused critics across the country to heap praise on the orchestra’s courageous show of support for a young up-and-comer, and admiration for the quick and efficient way the hiring came about. Peter Dobrin says that it’s far too early to say whether the Phil has made a brilliant hire or a colossal error, but other MD-less orchestras are feeling the pressure to make a similar bold move.

Hip-hop pioneer and media mogul Russell Simmons is taking a public stand against the racially charged and misogynist language that permeates much of today’s rap music and hip-hop culture. Simmons is calling for “a voluntary ban on the three words he considers the most unacceptable, and among the most common, describing ‘bitch’, ‘ho’ and ‘nigger’ as ‘extreme curse words’ that were inconsistent with any sense of social responsibility by rap artists or their record companies.”

German-born composer Carl Christian Bettendorf has been named the first winner of a new competition for emerging composers sponsored by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Bettendorf will receive a $3000 cash prize – the SPCO plans to make the competition an annual event.

Conductor/violinist Pinchas Zukerman brought his Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra to Toronto last weekend, and the reviews were beyond scathing. Zukerman, who has been a controversial figure since taking over the NACO, took fire for his programming choices, conducting style, and solo violin skills, with one critic writing, “It doesn’t get any worse than this.” Interestingly, the same program had gotten positive notices back home in Ottawa.