Casual Corner

MPTF Hurt by Recording Industry Decline

The world’s largest funder of free concerts, the Music Performance Trust Fund, will be presenting fewer concerts this year thanks primarily to music piracy.

MPTF is funded by royalties from the recording industry, as well as cosponsor contributions. With an 8% decline in record sales, primarily caused by music piracy, MPTF allocations will be down by $2.5 million, or 40%. It is estimated that 40% of sales worldwide are of illegal copies, to the tune of nearly $4.6 billion.

News & Announcements 

Peter Graves’ Jaco Pastorius Big Band album titled “Word of Mouth Revisited” on the HeadsUp label (a division of Telarc International), released nationally on August 26, has made waves on the charts. At press time, the album has been #1 on the Jazz Week chart (airplay), #12 on Billboard (sales), and is Record of the Month in France. Reviewers from the LA Times to the Washington Post have praised the album.

Guest bass soloists on “Word of Mouth Revisited” were Victor Wooten, Gerald Veasley, Victor Bailey, Richard Bona, Christian McBride, Jimmy Haslip, and Felix Pastorius. Local 655 musicians on the album were: trumpets-Jeff Kievit, Ken Faulk and Jason Carder; trombones-Dana Teboe, John Kricker and Craig Gosnell; Saxes-Billy Ross, Ed Calle, Mike Scaglione, Gary Keller and Mike Brignola; keys-Mike Levine; guitar-Randy Bernsen; drums-Mark Griffith; arranger-Larry Warrilow.

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