Industry News

Local/Club Date

The Miami Performing Arts Center, scheduled to open in October 2006, has received $40 million in naming rights donations. The Center became the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts as a result of $20 million in donations from Carnival Corporation. In recognition of $10 million in donations, the concert hall has been named the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall. The opera/ballet hall has already been named after Sanford & Delores Ziff, who have given $10 million to the center.
Artspace broke ground in June for a 37-unit home for artists in Fort Lauderdale's Sailboat Bend. The complex will provide subsidized housing for painters, dancers, and other artists who meet income requirements and answer questions about their portfolio and business plan. Artspace also has projects in Houston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Seattle.

New York Cultural groups have begun receiving grants from a fund established as a result of "payola" fines. $13 million has been collected from record companies as settlement in cases accusing them of improperly selling air time to favor certain artists. Recipients of the grants include the Rochester Philharmonic ($70,000), the Buffalo Philharmonic ($70,000), and the South East Area Coalition ($125,000). EMI recently paid $3.75 million to a music charity to settle its payola probe. Also, Reuters has reported that, thanks to the payola investigations, bands are now getting paid the going rate for this summer's festivals, rather than working for free to increase their airplay.

Los Angeles County doubled its support of the arts, from $2.2 million to $4.5 million, for the coming fiscal year. They also gave arts organizations $20 million of the county's $400 million revenue surplus from the previous fiscal year.

The Center for the Arts at Mizner Park has unveiled Festival of the Arts Boca, which would bring an international roster of acts in various genres in March. Artists already scheduled to appear include James Galway, Itzak Perlman, and author Anna Quindlen. Center officials hope that the festival will grow to the stature of the Aspen Music Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Spoleto Festival.

Bands have found a new way generate attention and build a fan base-ringtones. Cingular has teamed with MySpace for Mobile Music Studio, where bands can submit original songs that Cingular will convert to a master ringtone, and other companies such as Xingtones and Groupietunes offer similar services.

Arts supporters in Orlando have unveiled plans for a $376 million performing arts center. The center would include 300-seat, 1800-seat, and 2800-seat halls as well as classrooms, studios, rehearsal space, and a banquet facility. Supporters hope to secure $300 million in tourist taxes and $75 million in private donations to fund construction.

Symphonic

U.S. Trust has given the Miami City Ballet its largest corporate donation in its 21-year history. U.S. Trust, which is based in New York but has branches in Florida, is a long-time supporter of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera as well.

Atlanta Ballet has announced that it will no longer use live orchestra, a move it says will save the Ballet an estimated $400,000 per year.

Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival concluded its 15th season this summer. The festival, founded by Karen Dixon, Michael Ellert and Michael Forte, draws players primarily from the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra.

Groups in San Antonio have received the first checks from theFund, an arts funding campaign modeled after the United Way. theFund receives donations through payroll deductions and direct individual and corporate donations, and disburses them to local arts organizations, supplementing the organizations' own fundraising efforts.

Southwest Florida Symphony (Fort Myers) has announced the resignation of Executive Director Shirley Furry. The Orchestra has also promoted Director of Choruses Joseph Caulkins to Associate Conductor.

The Florida Orchestra (Tampa) has received a $500,000 gift from Suzette and Monroe Berkman. The gift will be used to endow the Concertmaster chair. The Orchestra has promoted Bill Faucett to Director of Development. Faucett has also served as General Manager of the Palm Beach Symphony and Programming Manager of the Kravis Center.

Susan Moyer has been named to a section cello position with the Naples Philharmonic. The Orchestra has also renewed Music Director Jorge Mester's contract through 2012.

Recording

Microsoft is developing a portable music player to rival Apple's iPod. Microsoft's Zune devices would hope to break into a market dominated by Apple, whose iPod accounts for 50% of digital music players sold, and whose iTunes has a 70% market share. On a related note, a French law recently went into effect which allows regulators to force Apple to make the iPod and iTunes compatible with rivals.

Univision has launched a digital music site at Univision.com. The online store opened with over 1.1 million tracks available in all genres, including over 55,000 latin songs. Univision is the largest Spanish-language media company in the United States and its website is one of the most heavily-trafficked Spanish-language sites.

Additionally, Univision has accepted a $12.3 billion cash buyout by a consortium which includes Haim Saban, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

PricewaterhouseCoopers analysts have predicted that online music sales will rise at a 5.2 percent annual growth rate, to $47.9 billion by 2010.

Sirius Satellite Radio is Gaining on rival XM. Sirus subrcriptions were up over 600,000 in the second quarter of 2006, to 4.7 million. XM added fewer subscribers this past quarter, but remains the industry leader with 6.89 million subscribers.

EMI has signed a deal to license its catalog through the legal file-sharing network, Mashboxx. Mashboxx already has an agreement with Sony BMG. EMI has also announced that it has abandoned plans to merge with Warner Music.