Canada is in the midst of a museum-building boom. “But too often, say some in the museum community, this country’s approach to its museums is like that of fathers who sire kids all over town but neglect to properly support them. Canada’s heritage collections and sites are in chronic crisis. No one is actively trying to obliterate them in the way that the Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas; rather, neglect and underfunding threaten to accomplish the same result, in slow motion.”
Tag: 04.01.06
Soprano To The Met In 18 Months (Years)
For 16 years, Erika Sunnegardh studied singing, but didn’t get very far. Then in 2004 the Swedish-American soprano made her professional debut. Eighteen months later, she’s on stage at the Metropolitan Opera…
All Directions At Once
“Electronic multitasking isn’t entirely new: we’ve been driving while listening to car radios since they became popular in the 1930s. But there is no doubt that the phenomenon has reached a kind of warp speed in the era of Web-enabled computers, when it has become routine to conduct six IM conversations, watch American Idol on TV and Google the names of last season’s finalists all at once. That level of multiprocessing and interpersonal connectivity is now so commonplace that it’s easy to forget how quickly it came about.”
Radio Companies Negotiate Over Payola Fines
Four major American radio companies – Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp – are negotiating with the FCC over fines for illegal pay-for-play practices. “Some of the radio companies have proposed fines of as much as $1 million. However, at least one FCC commissioner, Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, is pushing for penalties that could exceed $10 million per company.”
The Software That Lets Anyone Compose
Today’s music software is getting sophisticated enough that even someone with no music training can “compose” music. Of course, the sounds are all chosen and mashed together by a computer, but does it make you any less of a composer?
Apple – Out To Own The Music Business?
“The music industry fled into Steve Jobs’ arms in desperation as it watched piracy erode its sales, so Apple signed great distribution deals with all the major labels. The people who manage the iTunes inventory are developing a stranglehold over digital music distribution that is giving iTunes enormous power. The record labels have to deal with iTunes or face oblivion as the iPod population grows.”