Category: music

So EMI and Apple are taking the digital locks off music tracks. “The announcement by Apple and EMI was tempered by news that the companies may face an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour. The European commission has sent formal charges to major record companies and Apple, alleging that they are restricting music sales in Europe, a commission spokesman said last night. The spokesman said agreements between Apple and the record companies face an antitrust inquiry.”

The album category is a mixed bag of classical stars such as Bryn Terfel, crossover artists such as Libera, early-music groups such as The Sixteen and left-field acts such as the Fron Male Voice Choir from Wales. Pop star Sting is nominated for an album of music by 16th-century composer John Dowland, accompanied by the Bosnian lute virtuoso Edin Karamazov.

Why did EMI decide to remove the digital locks from its music tracks? Simple. The world’s third-largest label is in trouble. “Couple (the revenue drop) with the fact that you have a decline with no turnaround on the horizon — this move is not made from a position of strength. It’s a move of desperation. How long can you afford to see your revenues drop like that? One year and you’re in big trouble.”

“Berlin’s famous Staatsoper opera house is expected to undergo a major three-year renovation starting in 2010. Officials at the Staatsoper have long argued that the 18th-century building on the capital’s Unter den Linden boulevard is in dire need of restoration.”

“The bidding yesterday lasted less than four minutes. The rare Stradivarius violin went for a high — but not a record — price of $2.4 million.” What the anonymous buyer gets “is what is known as a ‘late period’ Stradivarius, which is not from Stradivari’s ‘golden period’ of 1700 to 1720. The record $3.5 million price last year was for such a golden violin.”

“Sony BMG is poised to unveil a partnership with one of the world’s leading online music databases making thousands of back catalogue tracks available to advertisers. Falling CD sales in recent years have prompted the big music labels to look for new ways to make money out of their vast catalogues.”

“Twenty years ago, the giant corporations that dominated the classical recording industry were turning out around 700 new releases every year. Today, just two are still in the business. Production is down to around 100 new discs a year – many in the crossover repertoire that purists would not accept as “classical” at all – and falling. If some new Caruso were to arise, his 22nd-century successors might struggle to discover how he sounded.”

The Metropolitan Opera National auditions are the opera world’s largest talent search. “Theoretically the judges are not looking for finished products. A stated purpose of the auditions is to identify the singers with the greatest potential for a career, rather than those who are most polished and professional. But a singer who seems a diamond in the rough to one listener may sound just plain bad to another.”

Do aging rock stars playing their 20-year-old hits at high-priced arena shows represent a threat to continuing innovation in rock music? “Nostalgia is powerful, yes, but [Rod] Stewart, [Paul] McCartney and company are taking these millions of dollars out of fans’ pockets with mediocre new material… How do new, deserving artists get wide exposure when fans are buying one floor seat at the Rolling Stones versus tickets to Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, My Chemical Romance or the Shins?”

The New Jersey Symphony’s quest to sell the collection of rare instruments it bought only a few years ago from now-disgraced billionaire Herbert Axelrod will likely prove even harder than their purchase. “The NJSO wants to find one or more buyers willing to purchase the collection as a whole and lend it back to the orchestra for the musicians to play. Not impossible, but certainly not easy.”