The company “said it will continue to deliver personalized music to its listeners via a new music player that’s currently being tested. The difference is the music will not come from its own servers. Instead, music will be piped in from YouTube and VEVO onto the new player.”
Should Austria Preserve Thousands of Jobs by Buying Art From This Bankrupt Man?
“[Karlheinz] Essl, the owner of the Austrian DIY firm bauMax, is hoping to sell the 7,000 works in his collection to the Austrian state in an effort to bail out his struggling business and save 4,000 jobs.”
Spain’s TV Networks in Trouble as Dubbing Actors Strike
“Most foreign films and shows are dubbed on Spanish television, and the strike by 250 actors” – now in its third week – “has delayed the broadcast of new episodes, leaving major networks showing reruns.”
Italy Pledges €135M to Restore Southern Heritage Sites
“The Campania region is expected to get the greatest share of the funding: €43.1m for five projects,” with more than €30m each for Sicily and Puglia and €26.8m going to Calabria.
Book Editors Say Life’s Too Short To Read Bad Books
“There’s no set way to approach a manuscript. Nobody tells you, ‘This is how to edit. Follow these steps.’ Everyone comes to a manuscript with a different perspective, and you quickly learn that each editor has his or her own personal preferences — conventions they love (and maybe even overuse) and things that are huge pet peeves.”
Can You Really Prosecute Someone For Rap Lyrics? (It’s Being Done)
“The proliferation of cases has alarmed many scholars and defense lawyers, who say that independent of a defendant’s guilt or innocence, the lyrics are being unfairly used to prejudice judges and juries who have little understanding that, for all its glorification of violence, gangsta rappers are often people who have assumed over-the-top and fictional personas.”
Russian Oligarchs? Brazilian Millionaires? What’s The Detroit Institute Of Art To Do?
“OK, let’s clear up any misunderstanding: Russian oligarchs and Brazilian millionaires are not amassed in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts in the hopes of being first in line should the treasures inside go up for sale.”
Color As Sounds, Paintings As Music (Literally)
“In Neil Harbisson’s cybernetic world, every color has a corresponding note: Red is F, orange is F sharp, G is yellow, C is blue, A is green and so on. He listens to Warhols, paints with sounds and writes music based on what he sees around him.”
Cut The Fulbright Scholarships? What A Bad Idea
“As tensions escalate with countries that were once touchy allies, what we need are more Fulbright grantees in the world, not fewer. Sure, $30 million seems like a lot of money—but it’s actually 0.06 percent of the proposed total State budget.”
Radical Departure: A Gender Difference In Artistic Evolution?
“Radical breaks in style are technically gender neutral, and there are certainly men who have roamed among forms, styles, and even media. I am speaking of a tendency, one that seems to be more noticeable in women working in the twentieth century and beyond, perhaps owing to the fact that more work by women has found its way into the world since 1900.”
The Amazon Books Problem
“There’s a fundamental problem with bookselling as a business: put bluntly, it’s that people aren’t really into buying books. Bezos discovered this via a 1998 survey that found most shoppers didn’t use Amazon.com and probably never would, because—well—Americans buy very few books.”
Our Language Is Being Infested With Jargon!
“If you go on government ministry websites, for instance, the way they write is absolutely impenetrable. It’s all posted online for members of the public, but you can’t understand what they’re saying.”
Osmo Vänskä Is In Talks With Minnesota Orchestra, But –
Would he accept an offer? “Yes, if I can do good music. If I’m going to be able to take care of the orchestra and being their artistic director. And if I’m allowed to make music with them, yes. Otherwise, not.” He also says that the process of “cleaning up things … should happen at every corner of the organization.”
Delaware Art Museum Will Auction Works to Pay Off Debt
“In a rare move, the Delaware Art Museum will sell as many as four works of art, valued at $30 million, to repay [$19.8 million in] debt from a facilities expansion and replenish its endowment, museum leaders announced Wednesday.”
Russian Parliament Prepares to Limit Foreign Films on Russian Screens to 50 Percent
Ruling party deputy Robert Schlegel, author of the legislation: “We basically show American films that promote the stereotypes, national interests and values of the United States. Many of these are low quality. Russia can produce its own films, which will be interesting to viewers.”
BBC: Arts for Everyone? Who Are They Kidding?
Author Stella Duffy looks at the ambitious “arts for everyone” plans BBC Controller Tony Hall has announced – and finds them too London-centric, too establishment, too mainstream and too old-fogey.
Musicals Move Ever Farther Into Opera Houses’ Repertory
The trend started as a way to increase box office income and get some new people inside the building, but now companies in both the U.S. and Europe are proudly mounting full-scale productions of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim and even Andrew Lloyd Webber. (Don’t worry, they’re not going to do Mamma Mia!.)
Britain’s National Theatre Raids Channel Four for New CEO
“Tessa Ross, the Film4 controller whose credits include the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave and Slumdog Millionaire, is leaving Channel 4 to become chief executive of the National Theatre.”
Milwaukee Symphony Raises That $5M It Needs to Finish Season
“The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has successfully completed its $5 million emergency fundraising drive with the help of 1,408 new individual donors, contributing an average gift of $340.25 each.”
Universal Knowledge Allah Pleads Not Guilty to Stealing Stradivarius
Mr. Allah is the second suspect in the stun-gun mugging of Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster Frank Almond and theft of his Strad violin in a parking lot following a chamber concert in late January. (The instrument was recovered the following week.)
London Mayor’s New Cultural Strategy: More Busking?
Boris Johnson “has unveiled his updated cultural strategy for the capital, which includes commissioning studies on the impact of public investment for culture, and how to better support busking.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Puts Off Proposed Tour to Iran
“The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced Wednesday that it will delay the target date for a potential concert tour in Iran … Originally proposed for late August or September, the tour will now be planned for an unspecified date during the 2014-15 fiscal year, which starts in September.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.26.14
Deaccessioning as a singular event
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth | Published 2014-03-26
Debating the Blue Note 100, and Music Streaming
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-03-26
‘The President of the USA is disrupting my concert’
AJBlog: Slipped Disc | Published 2014-03-26
Al Prieve and the Sum of the Parts
AJBlog: The Artful Manager | Published 2014-03-26
109 Minutes With Tom Campbell
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-03-26
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Investing In People (Or Indentured Servitude?)
“Companies like Upstart, Pave, and Lumni are acting like Kickstarter platforms for people instead of businesses or products. Through them, it’s possible to invest in a human being, funding their education or professional development and getting a cut of their future profits in return.”
Is This Really The Way To Save Arts Journalism?
“If you want to see intelligent, comprehensive coverage of the arts – features and reviews alike – then you’ve got to start clicking. Journalism is well on its way to being a numbers game for most outlets.”