Category: music

Demonstrating the impact downloaded music has had, a new chart of best-selling downloaded music is being launched. “The new chart will register the sale of tracks from websites run by HMV, Coca-Cola and Microsoft’s MSN and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 1. Separately, mobile phone operator T-Mobile announced plans to turn handsets into personal stereos, downloading songs at about £1.50 each.”

On the last night of Scottish Opera’s production of La Boheme, the company’s performers staged a protest at the end, unveiling “T-shirts bearing the words: ‘No Chorus? No Opera? No way!’ The protest, which involved the 34 members of the chorus whose jobs are to be axed, as well as technical staff, principal singers, and the orchestra, was then greeted with a lengthy standing ovation.”

The list of candidates to lead the Kansas City Symphony is down to three. Critic Paul Horsley has his favorite, but reports that the race is divided. And, he says, some changes to the makeup of the selection committee are worrisome.

An abridged version of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle has been a hit at the Glastonbury Festival. “It was the first time opera had been performed at the festival, with thousands of fascinated revellers gathering in front of the main Pyramid stage for the event. The 75-minute long extract opened with the section of the opera familiar to fans of the film Apocalypse Now, its lyrics sung in English and subtitled at the side of the stage to make it widely accessible. The Valkyries were played with relish by the ENO singers, flame-haired and dressed in black, as members of the orchestra behind them were clearly enjoying the unique experience.”

“A little more than a decade ago, recording, radio and television contracts were bringing in about $700,000 annually in revenues. Today that figure hovers below $150,000. And if the orchestra wants to record an important new work that it has commissioned from a famous contemporary composer, it must pass the hat.”

New devices such as the Concert Companion – which displays text describing what’s going on in the music as a concert plays – add a new dimension to the symphony experience. The question is what its adds, wonders William Littler.

Lollapalooza had a established name. And a pretty good lineup for this summer’s season. So why did the traveling music lineup kick the bucket? “The bristling embodiment of a generational zeitgeist, it wasn’t. Quality programming aside, Lollapalooza 2004 had the disturbing aura of an ‘oldies’ package tour.”

Small independent recording operations are thriving as the costs of recording and producing music drops. Indie music is “as healthy, one may even observe, as the mainstream is sick. Worldwide, hit records have become the privilege of a select few as embattled major labels take refuge in safe, carbon-copy acts.” Meanwhile, maverick artists are “increasingly taking music into their own hands, although no one is under no illusions about toppling Global Pop Inc any time soon.”

Last fall, after the recording industry began suing music downloaders, file-trading on free networks fell in Canada. But after an initial drop, new research indicates that “free download activity has bounced back significantly. Free downloads are too hard to resist, despite greater awareness of intellectual property issues surrounding music.”

Pamela Rosenberg is stepping down as director of San Francisco Opera. “Rosenberg has spent more time and energy than she had expected in efforts to rectify the company’s financial problems. In the face of steep budget deficits, she has had to scale back the scope of the company’s activities by almost 25 percent, cancel some new productions and make across-the-board staff cuts.”