The Big Five, er, Seven, er, Six

In anticipation of June’s annual Orchestra Compensation Report update, it is always fun to take a look at some of the issues that don’t usually make it into those reports. One item of particular interest is related to the practice of projected base musician salary levels. For those unfamiliar, orchestras negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with their musicians that determine base wages up to five years in advance. As a result, this allows analyst geeks (like me) to have some prognostic fun…

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Additional Fallout From The IMG Artists Scandal

The 5/1/2009 edition of Bloomberg published a commentary by Norman Lebrecht that examines some of the early response within artist management circles to the Barrett Wissman scandal. Wissman, a hedge fund manager who also serves as Chairman of IMG Artists, pled guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay $12 million in penalties in connection with an alleged kickback scheme involving a New York state pension fund…

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IMG Artists Chairman Guilty Of Securities Fraud

The 4/15/2009 edition of The Dallas Morning News published an article by Brendan Case that reports former Dallas hedge fund manager Barrett Wissman “pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with his role in an alleged kickback scheme involving New York state’s largest pension fund.” In 2003, when talent management agency IMG decided to jettison its classical and jazz roster, Wissman stepped in as a major investor and eventual Chairman of the spinoff, IMG Artists. Those familiar with the business will recognize that IMG Artists is one of the largest artist management agencies in the US…

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Do We Need A New Business Model?

At least, that’s the question posed by Peter Dobrin in an article he wrote for the 4/5/2009 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The quick answer is no, but Dobrin’s article is representative of the normal sort of reservation and introspective analysis that accompanies any sort of unexpected critical event. In this case, the predicament is the economic downturn that deflated the value of orchestra endowments and in Dobrin’s article, he challenges the value of big endowments. Fortunately, that isn’t the problem…

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News Of Phoenix’s Budget Troubles (sort of)

The 4/1/2009 edition of The Arizona Republic published an article by Jahna Berry that reported news about revenue woes at the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra (PSO). Unfortunately, the article is short on details although it does report about some revenue shortages. At the same time, there is mention of some cost cutting measures already enacted by the PSO…

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