Category: Business

New York Philharmonic to Make Concerts Available for Digital Downloading – New York Times

New York Philharmonic to Make Concerts Available for Digital Downloading – New York Times

The fact that the NY Phil is entering the legal download world is cool, but the very exciting thing is the recording of new works.

Mr. Mehta also announced another recording deal, an arrangement with New World Records to release two CD’s a year of new works commissioned and played by the Philharmonic in their world premieres. Those recordings, too, will be available by download, said the orchestra’s spokesman, Eric Latzky.

If you want to download another recording of Mozart 40, that’s fine, but the fact that new works by living composers are getting recorded is the real excitement for me. That is the kind of development that can help the arts continue to thrive.

Wired News: Digital Music Biz Ain’t Booming

Wired News: Digital Music Biz Ain’t Booming

I’m what I call business-model sensitive. That is, if the way something is marketed or priced doesn’t appeal, I don’t buy it — unless I desperately want it. I prefer the price of a product to bear some relation both to the cost of producing it and its value to me.

It’s this same business-model sensitivity that causes me to forgo cable television. Why should I pay for unlimited access when I don’t watch more than an hour a day? It seems akin to paying for the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet when I just want coffee.

Some would call such behavior cheap. I take great offense at such character assassination, although it may be true.

Either way, for someone who is business-model sensitive (or cheap, if you must), the digital music industry doesn’t add up.

Here you have a product — recorded music — that costs very little to produce. Sure, you can spend a fortune on sound studios and videos. But even an amateurish recording of a live performance sounds OK. Nearly everyone knows some struggling band that has put out a decent-sounding release on a shoestring.

Once a recording exists, reproducing it costs next to nothing. Because most of us pay a flat monthly fee for internet access, there’s no extra cost to send or receive a music file. CDs are also cheap. A pack of blank ones sells for a few dollars.

Do people really think like this? If she is representative if the general public, it is no wonder that we have trouble getting people to buy music of any lasting interest. Maybe our education efforts should focus on helping people develop a perceived value for art, and maybe our artistic efforts should focus on non-disposable art.

Art, life, money, art…

If you have any interest in the intersection of the life of an artist, the business of art, and the simultaneous creation of art and a decent lifestyle, you must read this article: PopMatters | Columns | Will Layman | Jazz Today | Making the Music Play for You

Will Layman looks at these issues through musician Rudresh Mahanthappa and Pi Recordings owner, Seth Rosner.

“The first time my name showed up in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll,” Mahanthappa tells me (referring to the highly respected poll of top talent in the nation’s most august jazz publication), “I couldn’t afford to buy the magazine.”

Mahanthappa also provides an eye opening view of what the music business can do to people, and what can happen when one holds onto one’s love of music.

“The summer after my first year at Berklee, I got a cruise ship gig that was a big eye-opener. Almost every musician on the ship had forgotten the reason they started playing,” Mahanthappa tells me. “No one cared about music any more. They were just drinking, living the life on the ship. And I thought, if that’s what making a living as a musician is about, then I want no part of it.”

So, to be even a moderately aspiring jazz musician is to be a poster-child for struggling artists everywhere. You have to love what you’re doing and forget about the money. …

For the rest of us, the folks sitting around the hip little tables at the Jazz Standard (making out or just listening), Mahanthappa’s love of the music is palpable.

On Point : Mark Cuban: Hollywood’s Headache – Mark Cuban: Hollywood’s Headache

Mark Cuban was on WBUR’s On Point radio show today.

On Point : Mark Cuban: Hollywood’s Headache – Mark Cuban: Hollywood’s Headache

They talked mostly about his role in the new day/date release of the Soderbergh film Bubble.

I really liked his answers to the theater owner’s complaints about simulatneous format releases ruining theater business. He essentially said that if this ruins your business, then you aren’t doing your job. There were a few music industry references, and lots of good info and discussion on the role of technology and how it affects and will affect or media consumption habits.

For Downtown Clubs, the Uptown Classical – New York Times

For Downtown Clubs, the Uptown Classical – New York Times

“It’s not true that young people don’t like classical music,” said Richard S. Weinert, president of Concert Artists Guild, which is presenting this German-based quartet, QNG. “Young people don’t like recital halls.”

That’s one of the reasons that early on it was decided that the New Orleans New Music Ensemble (NO-NME) would only play venues that had a bar in the same room as the stage. I guess the drinking habit of the musicians and conductor might have had something to do with that as well.

Lately cellist Helen Gillette has been playing Cafe Brasil on Frenchmen St and other venues that don’t usually have cellists. It’s pretty cool.

Good music in places where people like to hang out. What a novel concept.

Sony doesn’t get it part deux, or is that DOH!

If you need another reason to believe that Sony has lost all touch with internet reality, dig this page that I got when trying to follow a link to Sony’s Connect Music store :Sony Connect:.

Internet Explorer only. I love this language:

You don’t seem to be using that particular browser at the moment, so, unfortunately, we’ll have to part ways until we support the browser you’re currently using or you upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer.

Even if I wanted to upgrade to the lastest version of IE…I CAN’T, because I use a Mac. Microsoft no longer suppports IE for Mac. (See this page for more on that.) Really that is fine with me, but you would think that since Sony is trying to sell stuff that they wouldn’t want to prohibit a noticeable percentage of internet users from even accessing their site.

According to this page, IE 6 was 82.46% of the market in Dec. 2005. According to Scratch My Brain stats, IE is used by no more than 35-40% of SMB readers. I know there is a big difference bewteen the whole internet and SMB readers, but SMB readers are probably music buyers, and Sony is trying to sell music, but at least 20% (probably closer to 50%) of us can’t come to the party. No wonder their business model is dying.