At least three of America’s top orchestras have decided to keep a new nationwide agreement governing self-produced recordings at arm’s length, in the belief that it doesn’t go far enough towards addressing problems with the current American system of orchestral recording. The new agreement, which allows some orchestras to reduce upfront payments to musicians, is optional (any project undertaken must be approved by the orchestra’s musicians) and restricted to recordings made from live concert tapes. Some in the industry believe that a wholesale overhaul of recording agreements is needed.
Tag: 08.11.06
Back Away From The Child, Now!
Pushy parents are an unpleasant and unavoidable fact of modern life, but some experts say that the phenomenon is spiralling out of control, and kids are caught in the crossfire of adult one-upsmanship. “Where your three-and-a-half-year-old attends nursery school determines the rest of his life… from this school, he gets into the top primary, the top prep, the top public school and then, of course, Oxford and a brilliant career.”
TV Could Use A Good Palate Cleanser
Is TV so bad that it’s headed for total cultural irrelevance? Kira Cochrane thinks it might be. “Not only has crap TV become much, much worse, it is no longer interspersed with the necessary quality TV, a vaguely classy amuse-bouche to savour before heading back to the sea of rubbish… While I have never agreed with the argument that TV is inherently depressing, I have started to suspect that it leads you to depression through a slightly circuitous route.”
You’re Either Online, Or You’re Out
The internet has changed the media landscape, and a new UK study shows that, for a generation that has never known a world without connectivity, the web is fast outstripping all other forms of entertainment and intellectual pursuit. That’s good news for media companies with a significant online presence, but it presents an interesting challenge for TV, newspapers, and other traditional media.
Subversive Cartoons
Animation for adults is old hat in some countries, but in Hollywood, it’s still considered a daring and risky step. “In the right hands, animation is the perfect vehicle for subversion, but in the economic landscape of movie-making, the only way to make animation profitable is to pitch it broad… But costs have started coming down and it’s becoming possible to target niche audiences again. “
It’s 2006. Do You Know Who Your Children Are?
Teen movies used to focus on prom night, nerd abuse, and the trials and tribulations of puberty. But these days, movies about teenagers are dark as night, with suicide, drug use, and endless violence where the innocent growing pains used to be. Is Hollywood just reflecting the increasingly dangerous reality of youth culture, or are the movies projecting adult fears on a new generation?
Sex Sells. Great Gobs Of Sex Written Up By Hot Chicks Sell More.
Blogs are a great way to get noticed in the publishing world, and if the blog is anonymous, and has plenty of sex, well, you just might get offered a book deal by the end of the year. Don’t believe it? Meet Zoe Margolis. “Under her pseudonym, Abby Lee, she started a sex blog at the beginning of 2004, which is witty, moreish and incredibly explicit… The blog tootled along for about six months, and then suddenly went crazy, and was published as a book last week (for which she got ‘six figures’). The book is already in the bestseller lists.”
If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Become Their Boss
“One of Britain’s most outspoken architects has emerged as a frontrunner to become London’s ‘design tsar’ promising more landmark buildings and attacking the current lack of ‘coherent vision’. Will Alsop, whose series of controversial buildings and city plans earned him the nickname of Mr Blobby because of his passion for curved forms, buildings on stilts and bright colours, has applied to become director of design for London. The move is widely viewed as a challenge to an establishment of which he has become increasingly critical.”
Musical Gluttony
As the phenomenon of downloadable media continues to entrance the classical music world, marathons have become the hottest promotions going. “Blockbusters, bonkbusters, eat as much as you can for £5, sit through the whole of the Ring with a nasal feeding tube and a catheter… Hogarthian feasting is in vogue, with total immersion in composers, artists, playwrights and film directors sold to us as ultimate experiences. But is this an aesthetically rewarding endeavour or a marketing ploy?”