Looking Back At The Money Drug
Wed, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
Back in March I published an article entitled The Money Drug which examines a very real problem in the industry that deals with musicians and managers. The article examines how musicians in the mid and top level orchestras compensate unhappy working conditions and artistic dissatisfaction with an ever increasing need for added compensation.
A Note To The MET Just Relax
Tue, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
A few days ago Norm Lebrecht published a piece about how he was hired by the MET to provide commentary for their UK and European broadcasts but then fired shortly thereafter before ever working on a single broadcast. According to his article Norm claims that one of his BBC executives said the MET decided to
An Unorthodox Method For Supporting Your Orchestra
Mon, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
A member of the Toledo Symphony recently forwarded a link to a political cartoon which appeared in the Toledo Blade that does a wonderful job at highlighting the impact of sacrifices which players sometimes make. It’s well worth your time to go take a look.
Battle Royale
Mon, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
The competition between traditional Nutcracker performances and the radio city Christmas Spectacular continues this season. I published an article at The Partial Observer today which examines how this struggle could have positive or negative outcomes for the entire nonprofit performing arts community. The added competition may force the industry into some positive change, even if
In Case You Missed It
Sat, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
There was a wonderful letter to the editor published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press written by Minnesota orchestra violist Sam Bergman. He takes to task one of the paper’s recent editorials which paints musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra (and thereby those in peer orchestras with similar situations) in a completely inappropriate light. Sam is
Axelrod Collection Value Determined By Attitude
Fri, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra released a 66 page report from their Trustee Review Panel regarding the collection of string instruments purchased from Herbert Axelrod. The report will be examined in detail next week, in the meantime, here’s the initial paragraph from the report’s conclusion: “As emphasized earlier, the true value of the instruments for
What Orchestras Can Learn From Mega Stores
Thu, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
Fellow AJ blogger, Martha Bayles, published an interesting piece yesterday. It focuses on the mass marketing efforts by two large mega corporations which sell entertainment media: Blockbuster Video and Barnes & Noble booksellers. Martha examines how online and mail order video rental services are taking a noticeable bite out of Blockbuster’s bottom line. One of
Virtual Disaster
Wed, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
It appears that the cold war between the makers of the Sinfonia virtual orchestra device and representative of New York City Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians is heating up again, and it’s doing so on the same battleground as before, the Opera Company of Brooklyn. Like most wars that result in an
Fun With Numbers
Tue, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
Now that a number of orchestras have released their deficit/surplus information of the 2003-2004 season it is interesting to look at those figures in a different way. For the 03-04 season the following major orchestras break down their losses or gains in the follow manner: Cleveland (deficit) Milwaukee (deficit) Buffalo (deficit) Seattle (surplus) Year
What Do You Do With $32 Million You Can’t Deduct?
Mon, Dec 12, 2004
by Drew McManus
The latest chapter in the “Made for T.V.” saga that is the Herbert Axelrod scandal was his pleading guilty last week to helping a former employee file a fraudulent federal tax return. As part of that guilty plea Axelrod must file a 2003 tax form but is not allowed to claim a $32 million
