Category: music

“That this is playing out primarily as a dispute between musicians and management is the first clue that what we have here is a labor negotiation masquerading as a bankruptcy case. Does this case belong in bankruptcy court?”

“Located a block from Davies Symphony Hall in the city’s performing arts corridor, it will be the country’s first major stand-alone facility built specifically for jazz.”

“The average cost of a ticket will be one-third lower next season, and the cost of some seats will fall by more than half. A $53 main floor ticket will now cost $25. The Dress Circle seats, the best in the house, will fall from $71 to $50. The cheapest seat will cost $15.”

“Warner’s all-cash sale to the New York-based oil and media conglomerate, announced Friday, puts Access Industries founder Len Blavatnik in the pole position to bid for EMI, the world’s fourth-largest music company, numerous industry analysts said.”

“The bunkers are a repository containing nearly 100 miles of shelves stacked with some 6 million items: reels of film; kinescopes; videotape and screenplays; magnetic audiotape; wax cylinders; shellac, metal and vinyl discs; wire recordings; paper piano rolls; photographs; manuscripts; and other materials. In short, a century’s worth of the nation’s musical and cinematic legacy.”

“More than 85,000 were shifted – up by 7% compared with last year – and 376 tickets were sold every minute in the first hour. The series of classical music concerts take place from 15 July at London’s Royal Albert Hall.”

“Direct-to-fan,” everyone called it, the idea that if the bond between artist and fan is strong enough, the fan will gladly pay for access, for premium content, for the sense of a less-anonymous relationship with the artist and the process. Direct-to-fan, by this way of thinking, is the new driver of revenue in the face of the fact that recordings are, now, little more than promotional material. It is, in other words, patronage.

“Out of the ashes, with cheap new tools, a growing number of music acts and directors are trying to do something more ambitious: change the medium itself. They’re using interactive technology sponsored by the likes of Google and Intel to break out of a formula that hasn’t really varied for more than 30 years.”

“The orchestra pays rent in Verizon Hall, and if it returned to the Academy, which it still owns, it could shave expenses, the argument goes. But a return to the Academy would not be likely to save the orchestra much – if any – money, an examination of tax records and other documents suggests.”

Anne Midgette: “The problem with orchestras as an institution is that they can create the illusion that art can be institutionalized, when in fact it remains as individual as the people who create it. If you have a visionary, charismatic music director, you’re going to do better than if you have one who isn’t charismatic, however great his ideas are. If you have a terrible board, … the best artistic agenda in the world isn’t going to pull you out of the hole.”