Aeolus String Quartet

The Aeolus String Quartet will be preforming works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Bartok on March 20th at 2 PM at The United Church.

Be there or be square.

Marylene Dosse to play the high romantics

French pianist Marylene Dosse will preform works by Franz Liszt, Schumann, Rachmaninov, and Chopin on March 4 at 8 PM at The United Church.

I am looking forward to it.

Sara Daneshpour

I saw Sara Daneshpour in concert at the United Church. She opened with Haydn's Piano Sonata in F major. She played with the sparkle, delicacy, and elegance that Haydn requires. Dressed in a long black jacket with a white blouse with a great ruffle, she was perfectly dressed for 18th century music. With any luck a record label will give her a contract for all of Haydn's sonatas.

Also on the program was Chopin's famous Sonata no.2 in B-flat minor. She played the third movement's funeral march with the haunting emotion that it requires. The final Presto followed perfectly from the third movement, and the selection of Chopin's Etude op. 10 no. 12 was in C minor was the perfect choice to follow the famous Sonata no. 2.

After intermission we were treated to Schumann's ABEGG Variations, which was played with the caressing warmth you want to hear in Schumann. She played Frank with wonderful emotion, if you like Frank, which I don't.

She finished with a riveting, disturbing, and compelling performance of Prokofiev's Toccata.

Clearly we will be hearing more from Sara Daneshpour.

Chosing free beer over free speech

The post could also have been entitled he who pays the piper calls the tune.

More and more I see it suggested that musicians look to corporate sponsors to fund their tours and not even try to make money from recording their work.

In such a world corporate sponsors will have even more power to determine who is a star and who is a starving artist. Where will the next Bob Dylan come from? Who will write the songs which speak truth to power if everyone is auditioning for their corporate sponsor?

The future for the individual preformer never looked worse.

In honor of today's gorgeous weather

Beethoven's Spring Sonta

A better business model for the recording industry

An Announcement From Apple and EMI Goes Far Beyond DRM-Free Downloads

A week ago, EMI and Apple set the digital-music world buzzing with news from London. No, the Beatles weren't coming to iTunes just yet. Rather, EMI had broken ranks with the rest of the major labels and decided to offer its catalog to music retailers without digital-rights-management software that restricts consumers' ability to copy files and transfer them between devices.

That was the biggest headline of the day, but not the only news. The DRM-free songs would be ripped at a higher bit rate, giving them improved sound quality. They would cost more -- $1.29 per song, though albums would cost the same in both formats. And lower-quality, 99-cent DRM-protected songs weren't being phased out, just making room for the new offerings. ...

... First and most obviously, a major label is finally treating its customers like customers, instead of regarding them as likely shoplifters who should be given as few rights as possible.

Towards a rational business model

Is DRM Doomed? The Case Against Digital-Rights Management

In the wake of Steve Jobs' call to eliminate anti-copying technology, are the music and movie industries poised to move from protection to monitoring?

The debate over digital-rights management is coming to a head. On the one hand, efforts to implement technology to prevent the copying of consumer-oriented entertainment is increasingly viewed as ineffective. Indeed, no less an industry figure than Apple CEO Steve Jobs has called for the elimination of DRM. At the same time, content providers continue to search for a magic technical elixir that'll protect their revenue streams against unauthorized copying.

Customers don't like DRM, therefore it is doomed. You can't win a war with your customers.

The PR of the of the recording industry

Music Industry Tightens Squeeze On Students

The recording industry is dusting off an old tactic in its never-ending effort to crack down on pirated music: Target the college kids.

So far this year, the music industry's trade group has sent out hundreds of complaints to students, pressured school administrators to take tougher anti-piracy measures and tried shaming colleges into doing better by putting out a list of the top offending schools.

Why does the recording industry think the schools would be shamed by such a list?

The actions of the RIAA are like the Luddites smashing looms, doomed to failure. The need to get together with the Future of Music and come up with a workable business model.