Category: music

“Despite the disparate nature of today’s pop music consumption and the implosion of the genre’s distribution, there are still “tastemakers” out there, people who influence what many of us hear on TV (the last bastion of massive music promotion), commercial radio, surging satellite radio and the Internet. These people aren’t publicists, record producers or frustrated artists-turned-critics. They started out as music fans, then parlayed their passions into rewarding careers behind the scenes – on TV, through satellite radio and online – managing to carve out a role exposing listeners to new music.”

Wynton Marsalis is the face of and driving force behind the organization. “Once you’ve made that decision that the Jazz at Lincoln Center brand really can work well with your brand, Wynton’s power as the spokesperson — the front man, if you will — for Jazz at Lincoln Center really kind of takes on a life.”

An anonymous guitarist makes a video of his virtuoso rock version of Pachelbel’s Canon and it becomes a sensation on YouTube, watched more than seven million times. It’s a phenomenon that speaks to the way talent is being shared and embroidered.

The Tower Records bankruptcy marks the end of a generation. “If Tower is looking for a convenient scapegoat, it could well point its corporate finger at Seattle’s Beacon Hill, where Amazon.com resides. Record retailers such as Tower liked to boast that they offered far more breadth and depth in music selection than the mall stores or the music departments of the discounters. But even the music retailers couldn’t match the universe of offerings from Amazon, which didn’t have the carrying cost of bricks-and-mortar stores.”

Seattle Opera holds a Wagner competition. “The contrast of demonic emotions with the more mundane prospect of building an operatic career gave a special poignancy to the competition at the Seattle Opera, the most Wagner-centric of American opera companies. Unlike the army of teenagers who appear for piano or violin competitions, the finalists were mostly in their mid-30’s, which put them barely on the brink of being likely to perform a major Wagner role onstage. The proper age for initiating a Wagnerian career seemed like a movable goalpost throughout the competition, getting older and older.”

“To all appearances, Nettwerk is just a midsize music management company with an indie record label on the side. Many of the artists on its client roster – which includes Avril Lavigne, Dido, Sarah McLachlan, and Stereophonics – are mainstream acts. But McBride, the company’s cofounder and creative force, is quietly carrying out a plan to reinvent the music industry, including legalizing file-sharing and giving artists control over their own intellectual property.”

The hall, which is opening in October, is getting its first acoustic tests. “The most striking quality was how consistently clear and detailed the sound was from several different positions in the hall, from the furthest back row of the balcony’s vertigo-inducing third tier to the side boxes and choral riser seats behind the stage.”

The music business is going more and more online. “Despite the growth, Screen Digest predicts that the overall European music market will continue to lose value until 2010 at the earliest – when sales of downloaded music will have grown enough to offset the losses.”

“The Norwegian Student Choral Society (founded in 1845) has won the gold medal for Men’s Choir at the 4th World Choir Games in Xiamen, China. Previously known as the Choir Olympics, this international competition gathers about 20, 000 singers from 400 choirs.”

Outgoing National Symphony music director Leonard Slatkin has been appointed music adviser to the Nashville Symphony. “Slatkin, 61, is also principal guest conductor for both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for its Hollywood Bowl summer series. It is unclear whether he will take another full-time music directorship when he leaves the NSO, although he was widely considered to be in pursuit of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra before the team of Bernard Haitink and Pierre Boulez were given interim directorship.”