ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

MUSIC

As Record Store Day Becomes An Institution, Young Fans Drive Vinyl Sales

In Britain, vinyl outsold CDs in 2022, and for some Gen-Z members, they're better than streaming too. One 19-year-old: "I think the sound quality's better, and I like a physical record to hold." - BBC

The Jazz Detective Who Unearthed Legendary Baltimore Recordings

Concerts at the Famous Ballroom "were recorded, mostly for the private archives of the Left Bank and for the artists. ... Only a handful of them were released as commercial albums by record labels. But hardcore jazz fans knew the tapes were there." - NPR

Congress Considers “Tax Fairness” For Performing Artists

Experts estimate that arts workers spend between 20 and 30 percent of their income on necessary work-related expenses, including headshots and management fees. If passed, PATPA would allow workers to claim these expenses on their taxes. - Broadway News

Amid US-China Tensions, New York Philharmonic Will Tour To Hong Kong And Taiwan

"The New York Philharmonic, saying it hoped to use culture to help ease political tensions, announced plans on Thursday for a summer tour in Asia, including stops in Hong Kong and Taiwan and a visit to mainland China by a small group of musicians." - The New York Times

Oh, Oh: AI-Created Song Featuring Artists We Know Just Became Popular.

This “ghostwriter” is essentially taking the likeness of two artists and creating a song they had nothing to do with. It’s particularly an issue because it’s something that music fans are enjoying. - The Root

Even Rhiannon Giddens Didn’t Know That Black People Invented The Banjo

"But if you weren’t lucky enough to know somebody who knew the real story," she asks, "why would you know that? I didn't know that, until I was an adult. And that shifts your whole view of what we've been told about American music." - Variety

There Will Be Ten Female Conductors At This Summer’s BBC Proms

"The opening and closing nights will be led by Dalia Stasevska and Marin Alsop respectively. … Meanwhile, 11 of this year's 21 premieres are by female composers, … and a third of the festival's 84 concerts include works by women." - The Guardian

Music Industry Worries About Threats From AI

Universal Music sent letters to Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms asking them to block AI platforms from sifting through their copyrighted material in order to train itself to compose. - Ludwig Van

Soon We Won’t Be Able To Tell What Music Is AI-Generated

The fear is: could the AI end up doing a better job than the artists it is imitating? - The Guardian

Music Director Of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra Adds A Post In Florida

Effective immediately, Alexander Shelley, a 43-year-old native Londoner who's also Principal Associate Conductor of that city's Royal Philharmonic, has been appointed artistic and music director of the Naples Philharmonic and Artis—Naples. He succeeds Andrey Boreyko, who stepped down last summer. - Naples (Fla.) Daily News

Can Apple’s New Classical Music Streaming Service Solve The Business Model?

While Apple Music Classical is a step in the right direction, classical music’s streaming problem will not be so easily solved. - MusicBusiness Worldwide

Peter Gelb And Yannick Nézet-Séguin Talk About The Met’s Pivot To Contemporary Opera

Gelb: "It's not contemporary opera. It's the right contemporary opera." YNS: "Now, composers are more aware of how to appeal to audiences. It's not about tonal versus atonal. It's larger than this." Gelb: "To find the right balance (of contemporary and classic operas), we have to experiment." - The New York Times

After A Year, Spotify Kills Its Wordle-Inspired Music Game

First appearing in February 2022 amid a surge of games that used the format of Wordle, which the New York Times bought in January of that year, Heardle plays fleeting moments of a song and challenges users to see how quickly they can guess it. - Toronto Star

After A Century, Has Music As A Business Died?

We are a long way from understanding the ramifications of having it all available at the click of a button. Still, music will survive. After all, there was plenty of music before Caruso sold a million records in 1903. If the music industry only lasted a century, so be it. - The Nation

Paul McCartney Makes Billboard, At Last

That is to say, "the former Beatle debuts on two of Billboard’s dance charts with a new single titled 'Say Say Say'" - his first time on the dance charts in his entire career. - Forbes

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