Why are record singles dying? “There’s no question in my mind that when record companies sign kids up now, bar a very few exceptions, it’s a case of ‘bring ’em in, squeeze ’em dry, and throw ’em out again’. And if you tell the teenyboppers today that some band is the latest, greatest thing, eventually they get sick of being manipulated and stop buying the records – which is exactly what is happening. The sale of singles fell by 42% in number and value in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, and experts are predicting that the top 40 may soon be based on radio airplay, rather than how many singles people buy. “
Category: music
Texaco Pulls Out Of Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts
After 63 years, ChevronTexaco says it is withdrawing its radio sponsorship of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Texaco’s sponsorship was the longest in commercial broadcast history. “Beginning in 1940 Texaco was the sole sponsor of the broadcasts, which are now heard live from the Met stage at Lincoln Center 20 times a year on 360 stations at an annual cost of about $7 million. Broadcast December through April, the broadcasts reach an estimated 10 million listeners in 42 countries.”
Singing The Legal Blues
“Over the past five decades, singers, bands, record labels, managers and songwriters have formed a special bond with the judicial system, particularly in the US where they breed ’em litigious. Given music is such a volatile, mollycoddling, temperamental, creative, high-stakes business, it’s not surprising the lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank.”
Chicago Lyric Opera Posts Deficit
Despite selling 97 percent of its tickets, the Chicago Lyric Opera will end its season with a “deficit of $1.1 million, on an operating budget of $48.6 million. The deficit ends a 16-year winning streak in which the company posted operating surpluses every season. Expenses for 2002-03 exceeded budget by about $700,000, including charges related to revising next season’s repertory, while ticket revenues fell $400,000 short of expectation.”
Nevada Opera Lays Off Staff, Cuts Production
After canceling a production, Nevada Opera has laid off three of its four full-time employees. “The Nevada Opera’s financial problems reflect a national trend among arts groups faced with declining donations and grants. Last year, one of Reno’s longest-running arts groups, Nevada Festival Ballet, closed its doors under the pressure of debt. ‘Unfortunately, we had to make some very difficult decisions. It’s like taking an organization, stripping it down to the bare bones and then slowly building it back up’.”
Making Music As Kid’s Play
MIT’s Tod Machover has developed a set of toys to help teach children how to make music. “Toy Symphony’s toys, developed by the Media Lab’s musician-computer whizzes, enable children to “make music” without having to learn notation or engage in the arduous physical and mental process required to play a musical instrument. Through computers, their users can explore musical concepts that are more sophisticated than their actual knowledge would otherwise permit. Music Shapers, soft cloth balls whose sounds are controlled by squeezing, and Beatbugs, which repeat and subtly alter rhythms that are tapped on them, are improvisatory performance instruments. With Hyperscore, a composition software program, the user creates color-coded musical motifs, draws them onto a grid, and plays the score back. If desired, the program will provide a variety of harmonies and modulations. With a little help from its MIT creators, this graphic “score” can be transcribed into conventional notation for acoustic instruments.”
Are You Good Enough To Sing Underground?
London has licensed performers who work in the subways. “London Underground says the public wants high quality musicians who are guaranteed not to be confrontational. Complete with blue busking licences – after auditions, police background checks and a refundable registration fee – the first official buskers are among 256 approved performers who will occupy 25 pitches at 12 stations.”
Choral Union – Where New Music Thrives
Where’s the action in American contemporary music? Choral music. “In terms of concert music, choral and ‘educational’ music represent the lion’s share of most titles that are commercially published each year. There is a significant and constant demand for new works for chorus that significantly surpasses demand for new string quartets or symphonies or operas. Choral unions, community choruses, professional choruses, and choirs in faith communities regularly commission new works?oftentimes, there are numerous commissions each year. The premiere of a new work is a matter of course for hundreds of thousands of American choir members every year.”
The Orchestra Cycle: Program Continuity or Overdoing A Good Thing?
Why do orchestras constantly make a point of programming season-long strings of works by the same composer? What is it about, say, a Beethoven cycle, that is so irresistable to programmers, and is the idea really backed up by sound artistic and financial reasoning? “The investments go beyond time. Orchestras hold preconcert lectures and discussions with audiences to help put a series into context, and many work with theater companies and museums to create stage productions and visual-arts exhibitions connected to the series theme.”
Cautiously Pessimistic in Charleston
The Spoleto USA chamber music festival is one of the nation’s best-loved summer institutions. But even a festival which continues to set records for attendance and ticket revenue is not immune from the ravages of the current American economic climate. Corporate sponsorships for Spoleto are down sharply this year, and while no one is talking about any major cuts just yet, the prospect of a return to massive debt and layoffs for the festival is certainly the proverbial elephant in the boardroom at the moment.