One of the oldest and saddest stories in the recorded music business has always been the naivete of artists who, eager for fame, jump to sign contracts without thinking of future ramifications.
True horror stories of songs sold for a bottle of wine or a used Cadillac aren’t the rule anymore. But other stories abound of contracts that front-load massive debt and lock in artists for one-sided agreements, resulting in popular artists never seeing anything beyond the advance, a sum which is always cannibalized by the nibbles of a thousand pecks.
It’s why you see some artists out on the road even as their health deteriorates. It’s their only real source of income, since recorded music royalties reward but a few.
The accounting practices have been so entrenched that it came as a shock this week when Sony Music did something about it. The company announced it has canceled the debts of thousands of artists who signed to the record label before the year 2000. They will now pay royalties from Jan. 2021 forward to those affected.
What that means is that many artists will finally be able to receive money from streaming services.
Sony Music declined to name which acts are affected by their decision. However, the BBC reported that the deal embraced “household names.”
Jennifer Weiner: Music Was One Thing COVID Couldn't Ruin
During a year of disruption and disorientation, music kept so many of us connected — and helped us through even the most devastating losses.
Kyla Edmonds sits at the piano at the Mary Louise Curtis branch of Settlement Music School in Queen Village. Photograph by Drew Dennis
When I was a kid growing up in the suburbs in the 1970s, my first encounters with a piano were fairly typical. Starting when I was seven years old, once a week, instead of walking home from school, I'd walk around the block to my teacher's house, where for half an hour I'd dutifully practice my scales and play whatever piece I'd been working on. Over the years I progressed from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to "Für Elise" and "Moonlight Sonata."
In high school, I realized that if I wanted to keep getting better at the piano, I'd need to practice at least an hour a day. That would leave me no time for sports or any of my other extracurriculars. So I quit. Completely. Didn't touch a keyboard again for 30 years.
I can't remember exactly why I decided to restart my lessons after all that time. Maybe I'd read an article about aging and how mastering new skills can help you feel young. (Spoiler alert — it can!) Maybe I'd seen Lizzo playing her flute and wondered what might have been if I'd stuck with it.
I knew just where to go. When my daughters were toddlers, I took them to music appreciation classes at the Mary Louise Curtis branch of the Settlement Music School , a few blocks away from our home in Queen Village. They learned songs and shook maracas and banged on drums, and I vaguely remembered glimpsing the occasional adult walking the halls holding a sheaf of sheet music.
So that's where, one Monday afternoon, I met Michael Caruso, a white-haired gentleman in his 70s who is ebullient and erudite and seems to know absolutely everything about any piece of classical music ever composed. Michael has been teaching at Settlement since 1986. He has students who've been with him for all that time, boys and girls he's seen grow up to become men and women, with children of their own.
At my first lesson with him, I sat on the bench in front of the grand piano and settled my hands on the keys. "I don't think I remember much," I told him. He set a piece of music on the stand, an easy Burgmüller étude in G major. "Play the right hand's part," he said.
"Now go home and practice." I did, on the 66-note Casio I'd purchased when my younger daughter was five — an instrument with all the depth and resonance of a kazoo.
South Bend Symphony presents 'The Music of Queen' at Four Winds
The South Bend Symphony Orchestra originally planned to have Jeans 'n Classics perform its "The Music of Queen" show as the guest artist at Saturday's pops concert at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium, where full seating capacity returned Friday night.
But the Canadian-based group isn't able to enter the United States because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Not to fear, though: The SBSO made the call to the bullpen to bring in guest conductor Brent Havens and his Windborne Music group to perform their "The Music of Queen" show.
"I think that at first listen, people go, 'That's nice, simple music,'" the conductor says by phone from Dayton, Ohio, before a rehearsal for the Queen show there. "But if you dig into it, there's immense complexity."
Havens listened to all of Queen's albums to select the songs for the concert and wrote all of the arrangements for the orchestra and the rock band he brings with him.
"The music is so rich in harmonic structure and so melodic," he says about Queen. "Because of that richness, they've got these fantastic background vocals — all of the guys in the band sang."
"Because of that, I treat the orchestra as a member of the band, or I treat the band as a member of the orchestra," he says. "It's a back-and-forth thing. The palette opens up for adding additional colors and sounds to the whole thing."
As an example, "The Show Must Go On," Havens says, uses synthesizers on the original recording to produce synthetic strings.
"Now you've got the South Bend Symphony, and it really changes the complexion of it," he says. "I wrote French horns over the melodies. The woodwinds are filled throughout there. It's got a full richness that adds all the colors."
Jim Moses: Music in the family?
My first cousin once removed played his way through a PhD. He spent many an evening at a night club playing piano, and he was good enough that he received a fair amount of money in tips. He could hear a piece and then play it, without the sheet music, in his own style. I heard him do that several times. He came from a musical family. His father, Everett Donald Clay, known as Zev in the music business, was a band leader in the Big Band Era; he played sax and clarinet, as well as almost all woodwind instruments, plus a few others. Zev also came with the music gene—his family had a band (I have a photo or two of them).
Our family also has the music gene, apparently. My ancestor, Charles Moses (1792 – 1869), a carpenter and joiner, was a drum major in the War of 1812. His son, William S. Moses (1828 – 1899), a blacksmith and machinist, was an 'excellent bass singer' and was a band leader in Fostoria OH. William's son Luther Abner Moses (1860 – 1905) was Chief Trumpeter for his unit in the Spanish-American war, and played the bugle. For a time he was the official person to musically announce the arrival of the governor of Michigan.
Luther was also a machinist, as was his son, James William Moses (1902 – 1970), my grandfather, who was a fiddle player performing at barn dances and other activities around the Hasting area after returning home from World War I. My son has his fiddle, which is now over 100 years old (we have the original bill of sale). He is the fourth generation with the same first and last name, and likes to play his great-grandfather's fiddle.
For example, I have two cassette tapes of Uncle Zev playing sax, singing, and leading his band for a New Year's Eve party in Detroit many years ago. And I have old VHS tapes of our three daughters doing their piano recitals in Portland as they grew up. By the way, I recently found a man in Charlotte who can transfer VHS tapes to disk or thumb drive, thus preserving the music or voices for another generation or two to listen to. I'm going to have some of my recordings updated to newer technology. This guy can even convert reel-to-reel recordings, of which I have several.
Don't wait to learn about your musical ancestors. The gifts they gave people around them may not be around much longer if they still exist at all. I'll end with a last 'note' about Uncle Zev. While digging through my parents' attic several years ago I found a studio recording Uncle Zev made. Unfortunately, it was a very thin (vinyl?) recording on a metal disc, and the heat of the attic had totally destroyed the recording. I'm glad I found those two cassettes, or I wouldn't have any proof of his musicality (other than my memories of hearing him, and a handful of publicity photos for his band). He really did look like a Big Band Era band leader, too, with the slicked-back hair and the wire-rimmed glasses.
New music reality series begins filming in Orlando - Orlando Sentinel
"Pop Star Studio" will showcase and groom singers ages 13-19 as they audition, are cast and progress through a variety of tasks, such as choreography, recording, media training and more.
The show is looking to form a group of five, and some of the potential candidates hail from Florida, according to Wright. It will also feature celebrity mentors, guest stars and music industry executives.
Orlando's KDS Studios has teamed up with music industry moguls Willie Baker and Donna Wright — who both helped launch the careers of N'Sync, Pink and Backstreet Boys.
"It's been a long time since anything like this has come around," said Wright, mentioning ABC/MTV's "Making the Band" series that ended in 2009. Wanting to work on a "making of the band" show for years, Wright jumped at the opportunity to work with KDS Studios.
Pop Star Studio held auditions on June 5, and filming will continue throughout the process as the band develops.
"The hardest part is choosing the kids that … we want to put together as a group. And we want to make sure they get along," Wright said. "You never know when a wrench gets thrown in!"
While Wright said most of the filming will take place at KDS Studios, there are opportunities for the show to expand to other areas of the Sunshine State.
"KDS Studios is a huge, huge complex that has many, many recording studios, editing studios, rehearsal studios, green studios. It has everything we need," she said, noting it even has space for talent to rehearse in a dance studio. "We could probably go to like maybe beaches or something … most of the music videos are outside, so we could go anywhere in Florida."
Wright estimates filming will take about three to six months and hopes to pitch "Pop Star Studio" to major networks in the fall.
Folk singer brings classic music to nursing homes; donates guitars | KARK
CORNING, N.Y. (WETM) — George Mann, a folk singer from Ithaca, New York, has been playing classic music to nursing home residents across the country for years. Once the coronavirus pandemic began, Mann had to find out a way to continue this tradition while being socially distanced.
For the past 10 years, Mann has been a full-time musician. His love of music spans decades. He has been playing music and the guitar since he was nine-years-old.
Mann has performed shows across the United States and even in Australia. However, nursing home performances have always been his favorite.
“I’ve been playing as a musician you know for nursing homes, it’s been part of my job for more than 20 years,” said Mann. “I see it as a service, to a degree, but it’s also a job. They pay professionals who know 200+ songs, everything from Johnny Cash and Elvis to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.”
One of his favorite places to play is the Corning Center, a nursing home located on East First Street in Corning.
“We started doing ‘online strolling’ and that was working out really well until they got hit with that wave that came through in September,” said Mann. “In about two or three weeks more than 30 people, many of whom I’ve known for years, were gone.”
“It was just an idea I had,” said Mann. “I could fix up a few guitars and give them to the [nursing] homes that have meant a lot to me over the years. That will be a lasting memory. Somebody will have an instrument that they can play maybe long after I stop playing.”
No one knows that better than local businesses, who are struggling to stay open with heavy water damage.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Health released the COVID-19 updated numbers for Saturday, June 12.
Ubisoft Reveals Rocksmith™+, the Future of Interactive Music Learning | Business Wire
Compatible with acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, Rocksmith+ will start with thousands of songs and grow to millions more in the future, within genres spanning from rock, classic, indie, alternative, hip-hop, pop, metal, country, Latin, R&B, and more. At launch, Rocksmith+ will have a variety of authentic arrangements that represent songs the way the artists originally played them, and all songs in the library will be playable with chord charts for players to hum and strum to.
In addition, users can play with an acoustic guitar or an electric instrument and amp using the Rocksmith+ Connect mobile app, which offers phone-as-mic technology. By pairing their mobile device with their PC or console, the on-board microphone can track their guitar – allowing them to play with no additional gear needed. Rocksmith+ is also compatible with consoles using the Rocksmith Real Tone Cable. For PC users, Rocksmith+ is compatible using the Real Tone Cable or existing guitar interfaces on electric and acoustic-electric instruments.**** Rocksmith+ is also partnered with Gibson, Epiphone, Kramer, Ibanez, Ernie Ball, Ernie Ball Music Man, Marshall, Orange, and Mesa/Boogie.
*4.8 million copies of Rocksmith and Rocksmith 2014 sold.
**Associate Ubisoft studios are Osaka and Pune.
***According to a national research study conducted by C&C Market Research.
****Experience may vary with third-party guitar interfaces. Technical support not provided for third-party interfaces and not all interfaces may be supported.
*****Limited spots available.
Topeka Music Week kicks off June 18 with list of bands set to perform
Topeka will host its first-ever music week in the Capital City from June 18-26. It's expected to be a week of music performances at different venues across the city.
People can expect to hear a variety of music genres, including classical music, folk tunes, cover bands and pop rock.
With that many shows, you'll have to plan carefully. This guide will share all of the information you need.
Where: White Concert Hall and Garvey Fine Arts Center at Washburn University, 1700 S.W. Jewell Ave.
You’re invited to make music » Albuquerque Journal
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Make Music Day falls on a Monday this year, which may not be ideal. But there’s never a bad day to make music, McCarroll says, and playing music, or even just participating in it by listening, is a great way to beat the COVID-19 blues.
“It’s really about spreading our love for music,” McCarroll, who heads up the band Busy y los Big Deals, said of what’s at the foundation of Make Music Day. “Music is healing. We all need it for our souls and hearts, especially now more than ever.”
As president of the Santa Fe Music Alliance, McCarroll organized Make Music Day in Santa Fe for several years. Part of it involved a concert-like event held on the Plaza or in the Railyard, but music would break out just about anywhere – front porches, street corners, even mobile ensembles in the back of pickup trucks.
Nate de Saussure plays the trombone at Candyman Strings and Things. (Courtesy of Make Music Day Santa Fe)
“We’ve reached out to every venue in Santa Fe and welcomed them to come on board,” McCarroll said.
Make Music Day originated in France in 1982 when the Ministry of Culture created a new kind of musical holiday.
Juilliard Students Protest Tuition Increase With Marches and Music - The New York Times
The Juilliard School, one of the world's leading performing arts conservatories, is better known for recitals than picket lines. But students protesting a planned tuition increase occupied parts of its Lincoln Center campus this week and, when they were later barred from entering a school building, led music- and dance-filled protests on West 65th Street.
The protests began Monday when a group of students, objecting to plans to raise tuition to $51,230 a year from $49,260, occupied parts of the school's Irene Diamond building and posted photos on social media of dozens of sheets of multicolored paper arranged to form the words "TUITION FREEZE."
Students returned to the Diamond building that day, marching through the halls and stopping outside the door of the school's president, Damian Woetzel. At one point, some said, they knocked on his door, chanting: "We know you're in there. Will you meet students' needs and freeze tuition?"
Later, protesters said, they were barred from the Diamond building, and the school told them that it was investigating an incident that included reported violations "pertaining to community safety." On Thursday, about 20 students continued their tuition protest on the sidewalk outside, waving placards and accusing the school of using heavy-handed tactics to quell dissent.
"They have made it quite apparent they will not listen to us," said Carl Hallberg, an 18-year-old drama student.
"Juilliard respects the right of all community members including students to freely express opinions with demonstrations that are conducted in a reasonable time, place and manner," Ms. Contreras added. "Regrettably the demonstration on Wednesday escalated to the point where public safety was called by an employee."
Mr. Canepa, a 19-year-old dance student, added that students took the tuition increase seriously because it meant they would have less to spend on "rent, groceries, subway fares, supplies we need for school."
Students taking part in the protests said that roughly 300 current students, or about 30 percent to a third of those currently enrolled, had signed the petition.
Juilliard is also facing pressure on diversity issues. In May, CBS News quoted a Black student there saying she had been disturbed by an acting workshop in which the class members were asked to pretend they were slaves, as audio of whips, rain and racial slurs was played. Juilliard told CBS that the workshop was a "mistake" and that it regretted "that the workshop caused pain for students."
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