Music piracy: some things never change
The RIAA is waging a war against music piracy, trying to stop what has become as common as breathing. It’s probably too late. I came across this article from The New York Times: [Read more →]
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The RIAA is waging a war against music piracy, trying to stop what has become as common as breathing. It’s probably too late. I came across this article from The New York Times: [Read more →]
Music, madeleines and memory
Whenever I hear Steely Dan’s “Babylon Sisters,” it’s suddenly fall of 1980 when I first moved to San Francisco. I see every detail of my studio apartment in a 1920s brownstone on the border of the Marina district: the honeycomb-patterned tile on the bathroom floor; the wall niche for the telephone; the space in the kitchen that once held the icebox. I relive the emotions of those early days in a new city, the excitement tinged with longings. “San Francisco show and tell.” Most songs don’t have this kind of emotional valence for me. But some do. Why is that? [Read more →]
The transformative power of music in “The Visitor”
The storyline of the 2008 independent film “The Visitor” uses music to signify transformation. Widowed economics professor Walter Vale (played by Richard Jenkins) has been simply going through the motions for far too long. In his Connecticut home, he takes piano lessons, perhaps trying to reconnect with life through the instrument his late wife played, but his fifth piano teacher finally tells him that it is difficult to learn an instrument in mid-life, especially when one “has no natural ability.” [Read more →]
Concert attendance plummets
Concert promoter Live Nation yesterday announced what many musicians already know: fewer people are attending concerts. The company reported a first quarter loss of $102.7 million — on top of last year’s loss of $37.2 million. Undoubtedly the dismal economy contributed to the downturn in concert attendance, but there was already a trend favoring home entertainment over live entertainment. The closure of many venues and the elimination of live music (or at least the unwillingness of venues to pay musicians) has been growing, as I’ve reported before. [Read more →]
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