Local and Industry News
According to Americans for the Arts, 2008 saw a 12 percent increase in arts-related businesses and arts employees in Broward County. The county is now home to over 4,600 businesses and over 20,000 employees in the arts.Recording
The music industry has agreed to mechanical royalty rates for songwriters, composers, and publishers whose music is used for interactive streaming and limited music downloads over the Internet. The rates were one of the issues of a 6-month trial before the Copyright Royalty Board. Yet to be resolved are royalty rates for the artists performing on the recordings.
MySpace has launched a service where users have free access to advertiser-supported streaming music from four major recording labels--Warner, SonyBMG, Universal, and EMI. Users will also be able to purchase the music for download through Amazon.com. MySpace hopes the new service will provide an alternative to Apple's iTunes.
Sandisk, Best Buy, Walmart, and four major labels--Warner, SonyBMG, EMI, and Universal--hope to make microSD memory cards the successor to the CD format. They hope the new "slotMusic" format will appeal to those who still like a physical product but want something they can play on their cellphones and multimedia players.
Microsoft's Zune player will now be able to tag songs they hear on the device's FM radio to be downloaded wirelessly. The new "Buy from FM" service launched September 16.
Symphony
The Greater Hollywood Philharmonic has missed payroll again. Two months after the orchestra's July 4 concert, musicians are still complaining that they have yet to be paid. The orchestra received $35,000 in tax funds for the concert, and had received $82,700 from the city of Hollywood for the past fiscal year. Musicians also complained about late payment after the 2006 July 4 concert.
The Madison Area Musicians Association has issued a warning to musicians who may be contacted to perform chamber orchestra events in Madison, Wisconsin. The AFM Local is currently in contentious negotiations with the Madison Chamber Orchestra and requests that anyone contacted to perform notify the Local.
Live orchestra returns, at least briefly, to the Texas Ballet Theater. Thanks to a grant from the Garvey Texas Foundation to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra will be performing with the Ballet for its October performances. The Ballet had announced that it would be performing to recorded music this season due to financial difficulties. The Orchestra has performed for the Ballet for the past twenty years.
The Atlanta Ballet Orchestra will return to the pit after a two-year lockout. Musicians have ratified a new one-year agreement that guarantees 34 services, increases wages, and raises pension contributions from 4 to 6 percent. The agreement was made possible in part due to a $200,000 gift from Ballet trustee Patti Wallace.The Columbus Symphony will return to work after having suspended operations on June 1. The new, 3-year agreement reduces the season length from 46 to 31 weeks in the first year and 38 thereafter, and reduces wages and pension contributions, but maintains 53 full-time musicians, an issue that the musicians fought hard to maintain.
Board Chairman John A. Gunn has made a $40 million gist to the San Francisco Opera. This may be the largest donation made to an American opera company, and the funds will be used to commission new operas and productions, fund multimedia and outreach projects, and fund the general director's chair.
The Metropolitan Opera has announced Met Player, a subscription service that allows subscribers to hear audio recordings and full-length operas from the Met's archives. The service, which will debut on October 22, will also allow viewing of individual videos for a small fee.
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