Is There Value In Recordings?

The Oregonian’s classical music critic, David Stabler, posted a fascinating rant on 3/5/2009 about orchestras, musicians, and recording rules. As it turns out, David’s post inspired some readers to send in some intriguing email messages about that blog post which grew into an interesting exchange about the value of orchestra recordings in the new economy (or if you watch CNN, what appears to be the fall of capitalism). Back in July, 2008 I posted an article which touches on this very subject but never really followed up on it as I should have…

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It’s Time For Academia To Remove The Rose Tinted Glasses

The 3/8/2009 edition of the Chicago Tribune published an article by Howard Reich that reports on the continued rise in applicants to music schools across the country. Based on a wide variety of quotes from a broad cross section of music school administrators the article paints an idyllic picture of opportunities that await graduates but the simple fact is these institutions continue to earn a failing grade at adequately preparing students for the realities of a career in this business…

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You Can Almost Smell The Lighter Fluid

With each passing week, the situation at the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) continues to resemble many of the characteristics defined by Scorched Earth Governance In 10 Easy Steps. The only curious aspect of this situation is the WCO has yet to indicate that the organization is having any sort of financial difficulty…

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NEA Guidelines Posted

If you haven’t done so already, drop whatever you’re doing and head to the National Endowment of the Arts’ (NEA) website and read about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 grant guidelines. According to that information, the application deadline is no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on April 2, 2009. It is wonderful to see such a broad based program description but there are a few requirements applicants should notice…

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It’s Time For A Nonprofit LLC

In yesterday’s article, I mentioned the notion of a nonprofit LLC and wanted to take a moment to expand on that notion. If you imagine the world of U.S. performing arts as a brick wall then the multi-million annual budget size organizations are the bricks and the mega-million annual budget organizations function as cornerstones. Of course, there’s something else in the wall besides varying sized blocks and that’s the mortar; the numerous organizations and sole artists that have annual budgets below $1 million annual budgets and they desperately need a charitable status to work with besides the 501(c)3…

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