New Mexico Symphony Goes Bankrupt

Last weekend, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s board voted to restructure under Chapter 11; now, the New Mexico Symphony in Albuquerque is closing up shop.

According to one report, the musicians were surprised at the decision by the board to file Chapter 7: 

One musician called out Board of Directors Vice-Chair George Boerigter, saying that less than two weeks ago the musicians were told the symphony was headed toward Chapter 11 reorganization. 

Talk of financial trouble dates back to 2008, and board member George Boerigter claims that the orchestra didn’t even have the funds available to restructure under Chapter 7.

Earlier this month, the Syracuse Symphony also folded, citing an inability to raise money for even the rest of the season, and the Detroit Symphony, while avoiding bankruptcy, ended a strike that saw musicians’ salaries cut to offset crushingly large debt. 

Grooveshark Fights Back

A week after Amazon sent a (leaked or open) letter to record labels re-stating the legitimacy of its Cloud Drive and Player, Grooveshark yesterday released its own open missive, defending their right to exist under the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The company specifically calls out Google for withdrawing Grooveshark’s App from its Android Market. In a brilliant rhetorical move, it compares its service with Google’s own YouTube, both in its relationship to the DMCA and in its business practices to avoid piracy.

The letter, available on Digital Music News, was probably cover as Grooveshark released its own third-party Android app on Monday.

The Amazing Internet-Streaming Flip Camera That Wasn’t

Clearly, David Pogue’s a disappointed fan of the now-defunct Flip video camera, as am I. In his column this week, he revealed some inside information that makes the shutdown of Flip even more disappointing: apparently, the company was preparing to launch FlipLive, a new camera that would allow you to share video over the internet in real time:

Think how amazing that would be. The world could tune in, live, to join you in watching concerts. Shuttle launches. The plane in the Hudson. College lectures. Apple keynote speeches. 

Or your relatives could join you for smaller, more personal events: weddings, birthday parties,  graduations, first steps.

Imagine how cool that would have been. Certainly, it would have kept me in Flip for a while. This is something an iPhone 4 just can’t do. 
The other interesting thing about Pogue’s article is his speculation on why Cisco, which bought Flip from Pure Digital in 2009, had no intention of keeping the product on the market: 

The most plausible reason is that Cisco wants the technology in the Flip more than it wants the business. Cisco is, after all, in the videoconferencing business, and the Flip’s video quality— for its size and price—was amazing. Maybe, in fact, that was Cisco’s plan all along. Buy the beloved Flip for its technology, then shut it down and fire 550 people.

The Flip Camera: Easy to Use, Fun for Families, and Gone

Recently, I used a Flip video camera to shoot this:

And this:

Flip cameras are popular with journalists, and I can see why: I use ours to share the familial goings-on with friends and relatives all over the world. I’ve recorded ballet and violin recitals, trips the to the Met Museum and Prince Edward Island, and uploaded them all to Facebook or YouTube.

We got our first Flip video shortly after they arrived on the market, a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. The video quality was underwhelming, but it became our go-to camera (period) because it was just so easy to use, and so relatively easy to share clips online. Vanessa even uses it to document her performances and rehearsals.

David Pogue reported this week that Flip was readying a camera that would stream live to the internet. That’s amazing, and it’s not going to happen. (More on that here).

Last Christmas, we gave my son his own Flip video. He should hold on to that; it’s a collector’s item now.

Amazon: Don’t Even Think About Suing Us

In a letter to record labels, Amazon.com made it pretty clear where they stand on getting music licenses: 

Cloud Player is a media management and play-back application not unlike Windows Media Player and any number of other media management applications that let customers manage and play their music. It requires a license from content owners no more than those applications do. It really is that simple.

Nothing to see here. Move along, RIAA.

The full text of the letter is here.

Meanwhile, I haven’t used the Cloud Player since its first day, mostly because I can’t seamlessly buy and load to it from work, which is when I do most of my listening.

I Can’t Wait for Clone Wars on Ice

Eat it, George Lucas. You can’t stop the power of Star Wars: The Musical.

As Open Culture points out, Salon.com has posted the entire parodic show that a group of Californian high-schoolers put together in 1996. Of course, Lucas didn’t find it funny, and had his lawyers shut the production down. But it lives on, thanks to the internet. Thank you, internet. 
It’s really quite something; here’s the ending:

Students Hit Hard by the Syracuse Symphony Bankruptcy

As John O’Brien points out, Syracuse isn’t just losing a professional orchestra–its youth orchestra is also folding.

The student musicians in the group held their final rehearsal on Sunday “for a concert the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra will never perform.” They were to have performed their season-ending concert on May 15.

On Monday, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra board announced that they will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, citing its $5 million debt and inability to raise the $7 million it needed to finish the season. The youth orchestra operated as part of the Syracuse Symphony’s organization. 

That Uncomfortable Feeling (Watching the Detroit Symphony Strike from Afar)

I’ve heard it said here, and I can well imagine it being said elsewhere, that finely trained musicians want to concentrate on the music-making they trained for; that they find too much community service detrimental to the fundamental goal of sustaining artistic growth. But the movement toward embracing the world beyond the safe routine of the concert hall is surely going to gather momentum. It makes sense, short-term and long-term.

Both sides had their chances to present new visions for the orchestra, and both blew it. The musicians fell back on the tired old tropes about needing to maintain the orchestra’s status as a top orchestra (for the sake of civic pride), about their value as fine artists who are enriching the city by exhibiting jewels of high culture on the concert stage.

Management stuck to its line of needing to acknowledge hard economic realities; there was no talk of how the short-term pain of huge budget cuts could not just ensure the fiscal health of the orchestra, but also make it a viable entity within Detroit again.

During the strike, a news story broke that the state government was cutting education funding so deeply that Detroit would need to close schools. There are opportunities for non-profits to step in and play a vital educational role, not through “outreach” concerts but as sustained partners in classrooms and community centers.

At the very least, one of the sides could have scored some points by taking the high ground; at best, some sort of blueprint for an orchestra integrated into the city could have emerged.

Five Things: Songs About Hockey

As a Mets fan, Opening Day is as good a day as any to talk about hockey.

1. Atom and His Package, “Goalie” 
There’s a conversation going on about the value of obese goalies over at Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. One reader points out that the topic’s already been covered in song. 

2. Stompin’ Tom Connors, “The Hockey Song”
I’ve always found him a little hokey. But add one letter, and you’ve got “hockey.”

3. Tragically Hip, “Fifty-Mission Cap” 
Until I heard this song, I had no idea who Bill Barilko was. Until I heard this song, I also had no idea that the Leafs had ever won the Stanley Cup. It had always sounded like crazy talk to me.

4. Rheostatics, “The Ballad of Wendel Clark”
I wanted to include “Queer” but couldn’t find a clip. Poor Leafs fans: so many songs, so few Stanley Cups.

5. Claman/Toth, “The Hockey Theme” (The old Hockey Night in Canada theme song) 

Another Leafs fan! It’s amazing they have any left.  

How to Play Hockey Night in Canada on Guitar