Revenues surged by 18.5% to $25.9bn (£19.5bn) in 2021, the highest level since records began in the 1990s. The growth was driven by streaming, with 523 million paid subscribers, up from 443 million in 2020. - BBC
Mya Bishop first launched her petition earlier this week, which has already received over 10,000 signatures, asking the public to "urge" the college to "cancel the play." - Newsweek
"Theories abound as to why non-commercial 'Classical 89.9' WDAV Charlotte suddenly went to No. 1 in Nielsen's January survey. Here are the numbers behind the improbable victory." - Inside Radio
On Friday, Universal's 10:22PM label said it paid $360,817 to purchase Bored Ape #5537 - a female character now known as Manager Noët All, to lead the group it founded in November called Kingship. - Reuters
"The voice is the oldest musical instrument of all – and the most complicated. At root it is just an exhaled breath, the noise made when the air rising up from the lungs vibrates against the glottis." The noise paused by COVID, and perhaps, cautiously, resuming. - The Guardian (UK)
OK, smash hit in that it was an absolute standard of the repertory for many orchestras - until it disappeared. "The variety of conductors who performed the Franck suggests that its longevity came partly from its uncanny ability to withstand a range of interpretations." - The New York Times
If either Artikal Sound System or Linzer and Brown win their case, songwriters may have even more to worry about. Will one measure of similar music be legitimate grounds for a lawsuit then? - Slate
A track titled “Bayraktar,” of indeterminate origin, has been receiving hundreds of thousands of plays online, and is in rotation on Ukrainian radio. Over a simple beat, a gravelly voice insults Russian President Vladmir Putin’s forces. - The Atlantic
Orchestral musicians have difficult jobs, yes. But they have notoriously low job satisfaction, and the workplace atmosphere can become fraught or even toxic. But orchestra personnel managers rarely have HR training, and few administrations have personnel professionals to manage the problems that inevitably arise. - Van
The reactions to people being banned and insisting, Oh, we’re not politicians, we’re artists, and therefore what we’re doing is not political—I think that musicologists are alert to that and raise an eyebrow and say, like, No, even if you think you’re not political, we’re all political actors. - The New Yorker
When the artists being nominated and inducted are questioning their own “rock and roll” credentials, does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have a fundamental problem? - The Plain Dealer
"The barricades blocking the path to the Odessa Opera and Ballet begin three blocks away. Two more walls like that further protect the entrance. Antitank hedgehogs — metal rods welded together in a cluster — fill the spaces between the cordons." - MSN (The Washington Post)
Of the top 20 most performed operas worldwide in the 2017–2018 season according to Operabase.com, 75 percent feature female characters who were dead by the end of the opera. - Limelight
The hall will stand behind the Grand — the spectacular, multipurpose complex across the street from Disney Hall that was also designed by Gehry and is set to open in May. Its potential is to become the linchpin for finally turning Grand Avenue into a thriving arts district of international importance. - Los Angeles Times
Vitali Alekseenok's had been expecting to spend March and April working in Ukraine, including at the Kharkiv Music Festival, which he directs. Instead, he and his girlfriend drove trucks with supplies from their Berlin home to the border, where they've been helping as translators and drivers. - Van
