“That was the real issue for us, like 1 million streams equals $90. For a song like ‘All About That Bass,’ that I wrote, which had 178 million streams. I mean $5,679? That’s my share. That’s as big a song as a songwriter can have in their career and No. 1 in 78 countries. But you’re making $5,600. How do you feed your family?”
Category: music
USA Today, Times-Picayune And New York Daily News Get Rid Of The Music Critics
“These cuts mark the latest acknowledgment that readers have shifted online (and, more recently) to the mobile space as ad revenue has fallen. And the new landscape affects not only those soon-to-be-out-of-work journalists, but also touring bands that rely on local coverage to boost ticket sales.”
Vancouver Symphony Picks Kelly Tweeddale As Its Executive Director
Kelly Tweeddale, who has been the executive director of Seattle Opera for the past 13 years, takes over her new role on Nov. 16, the orchestra announced Thursday.
The Kinshasa Symphony Is Gaining Fans Around The World, But Back In The Congo, They All Still Have Day Jobs
“The largest – and until recently, only – orchestra in Central Africa has played on three continents, to standing ovations, and graced some of the philharmonic world’s most prestigious stages in recent years. But at home, it remains a modest affair. The first trumpeter still spends his days working construction sites. The double bass player is a nurse, and the tubist a pharmacist. One violinist, who is also the repairman tasked with mending instruments warped by the Congolese humidity, runs a small shop across the street, selling eggs and toothpaste.”
Why Germany’s Best Conductor Can’t Seem To Go Anywhere
“The most gifted German conductor for half a century is a hero in his own country and a shadow abroad. He has no artistic relationships beyond the German-speaking Heimatland and he is very seldom seen in London, Paris or New York. If Christian Thielemann is an important conductor, and he certainly is, the world ought to be hammering at his door. It isn’t. And therein lies a tale.”
So “Happy Birthday” Is Now Public Domain. But Many Other Common Classic Songs Remain Behind Bars
“At holiday time, some classes may perform a rousing rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town or White Christmas. Unfortunately, both remain copyrighted and out of the public domain, according to the Public Domain Information Project, a site where users can search for royalty-free songs.”
Celebrate! “Happy Birthday” Has Been Liberated From Copyright
In a stunning reversal of decades of copyright claims, the judge ruled that Warner/Chappell never had the right to charge for the use of the “Happy Birthday To You” song. Warner had been enforcing a copyright since 1988, when it bought Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F. Summy Co., which claimed the original disputed copyright.
TSA Carelessly Allows Rare Double Bass To Be Damaged
Milton Masciadri has reported that “after I checked the instrument it went to TSA [Transportation Security Administration] for inspection but when it arrived in Arkansas they had failed to put back on the security belts that the trunk has inside. The airline had no reason to open the trunk so its obvious that TSA was the one [responsible].”
Colorado Musician’s Double Bass Snapped In Two By Airline
Normally, a fiberglass travel case is almost indestructible. One possibility that the airline suggested was that the case had fallen out of a baggage cart or fork lift and had been run over.
Ten Years After Katrina, Louisiana Philharmonic Finally Gets Its Hall Back
“After ten years of post-Katrina concerts in other venues, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans’ Central Business District to open its 2015-16 concert season. Farrar Hudkins talks with Mary von Kurnatowski, one of the Orpheum’s new owners, and longtime LPO musicians Patti Adams and Jim Atwood, to give us the story of this historic homecoming.” (audio)