Industry News

Local/Club Date

The Seminole Tribe has begun negotiations to buy out developer Cordish Corp. and assume management of the hotels, shops, restaurants, and night clubs at Hollywood Hard Rock. The contract with Cordish calls for the developer to receive thirty percent of the net hotel and gaming profits, or an estimated $1.2 billion over the life of the ten-year contract.

Recording

iTunes has launched the sale of video content, including TV shows and music videos, to be played on the video-capable iPod. The labels hope the $1.99 downloads will help offset the decline in physical product sales. In the first half of 2005, non-digital sales dropped 1.9%, or about $200 million, to $13.2 billion, while digital sales rose from $220 million to $790 million and now accounts for 6% of sales. The Writers Guild of America, AFTRA, SAG, and the Directors Guild of America have demanded discussions with Apple and ABC/Disney to ensure that their members receive a fair share of the revenue from the plan to distribute TV shows through Apple’s iTunes.

The European Union has called on the music industry to create EU-wide copyright licenses for online music to replace the patchwork of individual country licenses. They hope a simplified licensing policy will make it easier for Internet-based music services to develop. Online music sales in the EU amount to only about 13% of the sales in the United States.

Starbucks has proposed establishing a retail music business in Toronto, Miami, and San Antonio under its Hear Music brand. The coffee house currently has locations in California where patrons can mix and match songs and burn custom CDs while sipping their lattes.

The RIAA may file a lawsuit to prevent satellite radio users from downloading content to portable players. They seek to renegotiate initial royalty payments and establish how much time-shifting can be considered fair use of their content. An iPod accessory called iFill also allows users to record internet radio streams and store them on an iPod for future listening.

MTV debuted Tempo, a new Miami-based network, on November 21. Tempo will showcase Caribbean rhythms such as reggaeton and bachata as well as highlight Caribbean people and artists.

This year’s Latin Grammys, held in Los Angeles on November 3, were for the first time under an AFTRA agreement for its broadcast over Univision.

Symphony

Congratulations to Rebecca Diderrich, winner of the recent Palm Beach Opera Orchestra viola auditions!

The St. Louis Symphony has raised $17 million of its $20 million special endowment campaign, begun in 2004, to bring the musicians’ salaries closer to that of its peers.

The Florida Orchestra ended its 2005 fiscal year with a $323,789 surplus.

The musicians of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra have negotiated into their contract a clause preventing the use of virtual orchestra machines to duplicate the sounds of live instruments.

The Florida Philharmonic Orchestra has resolved the bankruptcy claim of former Music Director James Judd, reducing his $550,000 non-priority claim to $225,000.

The Weston Chamber Orchestra made its debut on October 19. The orchestra was founded by Weston residents Charles Le Chasney and Raphael Almendros and is conducted by Marlene Urbay. The Weston Philharmonic Society has also underwritten performances by the Symphony of the Americas at Cypress Bay High School in Weston.

BROWARD CULTURAL AFFAIRS GRANTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004

Share/Save/Bookmark

Write reply

This item is closed, it's not possible to add new comments to it or to vote on it

Comments must be approved before being published.