Category: music

“This year marked the sixth consecutive year that independent labels and artists led the industry with 50% of all nominations, earning 199 of 398 non-producer nominations.”

“Nobody’s buying recorded music anymore, and musicians still need to eat. So why get ruffled when a favorite rapper or beloved rock band resorts to licensing their songs to the corporations holding the cash? We don’t sweat it anymore. We don’t even blink.”

“The real takeaway message about the classical Grammys, in a trend that’s been continuing for some time, is that major labels are as irrelevant as the awards themselves.”

When was the last time you heard a symphony or, apart from Gershwin’s An American in Paris, a tone poem by an American composer from the first half of the 20th century?

“It was a good day for contemporary composers, who took home the bulk of the classical honors this year.”

“The Grammy Awards begin with a look to 2015, as the husband-and-wife pairing of Beyoncé and Jay Z open the show, complete with epileptic-inducing lighting, with ‘Drunk in Love.’ As a performer, Beyoncé is magnetic, her every twist or spin around a spare stage adorned only with a chair eliciting gasps.”

“The very things that push our art form forward and keep us at the highest international level are then under threat. We would worry about slipping from the top tier, which is a real possibility if it carries on like this.”

“Will we finally get an all-robot rhythm section?”

“Some music directors say the lockout triggered their increases; others say they don’t know the cause. But they agree that the silence from Orchestra Hall kindled a new appreciation of classical music — wherever it was performed.”

“Women still tell me they find orchestras can be hostile, can undermine them deliberately, that executive directors can be sceptical.”